
Glass S Fj:^ 

Book JL__ 

ghtfl?_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Outapiaries 

and their management 



By 



M. G. DAD A NT 



Published by 

AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 

Hamilton, Illinois 

19 19 






COPYKIGHT 1919 
BY 

M. G. Dad ant 



FEB 12 1920 



©CU561824 






St 

i- 

$ 
*3 



To 
H. H. D. 



PREFACE 



Increased demand for honey, better means of transport to 
outyards; and consequent increased interest in beekeeping as a 
pursuit have changed many smaller beekeepers into outapiarists. 
This volume, I hope, may, in some degree, aid the beginning 
outapiarist in planning and managing his system of apiaries. 

The marketing of honey, though it is connected closely with 
the outapiarist, is not treated in this book. It is a subject, how- 
ever, which has not had its share of attention from the beekeeper. 
Were better methods of distribution striven for as are methods 
of production, the demand for our product would be almost un- 
limited. 

The writer is specially indebted to his father, brothers, and 
to Mr. Frank C. Pellett for ideas and information embodied with 
his own in this book. The cuts have, nearly all of them, appeared 
in the American Bee Journal for which they were made by Mr. 
Pellett, 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I— INTRODUCTORY 

Beginnings of Outapiaries. 
Dependent upon the Man. 
Prime Requisites. 

Chapter II- CHOOSING A GENERAL LOCATION 

Desirable Place to Live. 
Honey and Pollen. 
Overstocking. 
No Foulbrocd. 
Nearness to Market. 



17 



Chapter III— SELECTING APIARY SITES 

Distance Apart. 

Honey Flora. 

Good Roads. 

High Ground. 

Wind Breaks. 

Shade. 

Other Considerations. 



25 



Chapter IV— BASIS OF PLACING THE APIARY 

Owner Not Renter. 
Rental Price. 
Bees On Shares. 

Chapter V— THE APIARY ITSELF . . . 

Arrangement. 

Number of Colonies-Overstocking. 

Decoy Hives. 

Watering places. 

W 7 ax Extractors. 

Fire. 

Extra Supplies. 

Chapter VI— GENERAL SYSTEMS OF MANAGEMENT 

Permanent Apiary. 
Migratory Beekeeping. 
Central Plant. 
Keeping Records. 

Chapter VII— WINTER AND SPRING WORK 

First Examination. 

Second Examination. 

Drone Layers and Queenlessness. 

Feeding and Spring Dwindling. 

Building Up — Stimulative Feeding. 

Foulbrood. 

Hospital Yard, 



33 



39 



a 



53 



CONTENTS vii 



Chapter VIII— EARLY SUMMER WORK 59 

Swarm Control. 
Supers and Supering. 
Queen Excluders. 

Chapter IX— THE HARVEST 67 

Removing the Honey. 

Extracting. 

Replacing Supers. 

Receptacles for the Crop. 

Honey Knives. 

Cappmgs and Capping Melters. 

Danger of Moths. 

Requeening. 

Chapter X— FALL AND EARLY WINTER 79 

Protection from Winds and Cold. 
Outdoor vs. Cellar Wintering. 
Outdoor Wintering Systems. 
Cellars and Cellar Wintering. 

Chapter XI— MOVING BEES 95 

Short Distances. 
Moving a Few Miles. 
The Long Overland Haul. 
Moving by Rail. 

Chapter XII— AUTOMOBILES AND TRUCKS 103 

Type of Car. 

Trailers. 

Launches. 

The Motorcycle. 

Chapter XIII— HONEY HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 109 

Requirements. 
Location of House. 
Types of Houses. 
Temporary House. 
Portable House. 
Sectional House 
Permanent House. 
Central Plant.' 
Interior Arrangements. 



INDEX 



Apiaries, Distance apart 25 

Apiary, Arrangement of colonies 39 

Apiary, placing 33 

Artificial windbreaks 28 

Arrangement of apiaries 26 

Automobiles and Trucks < 48, 103 

Bee-escape 67 

Brood-chamber 60 

Building up colonies 55 

Capping Cans 73 

Capping Melters 73 

Cappings, Handling 74 

Carload Shipments 48 

Cellars 89 

Central Plant 49, 119 

Chaff packed hives • • •• 83 

Clamps, Bees in 92 

Climatic Conditions 19 

Costs of operation 124 

Dadant method of wintering 87 

Decoy Hives 42 

Demaree plan 60, 64 

Distance Bees Fly : : 26 

Drone Comb 60 

Drone Layers 54 

Electric Power 124 

Entrances .' 57, 61 

Examination of colonies 53 

Extracting 67, 69 

Fall work 79 

Feeding 54 

Feeding, Stimulative 55 

Fi -e, Danger of : 45 

Foulbrood .. 22, 49, 53, 57, 77 

Foundation 60 

Four Colony case 86 

Grimm, Adam 15 

Hand barrow 70 

Harbison, John 14 

Harvest 67 

High Ground 27 

Honey, Heating from extractor 122 

Honey-houses, Central plant 119 

Honey-houses, Interior arrangement 121 

Honey-houses, Location of 112 

Honey-houses and arrangement 109 

Honey-houses, Permanent 116 

Honey-houses, Portable 114 

Honey-houses, Sectional . t ....... ... 114 






INDEX ix 

Honey-houses, Size of 117 

Honey-houses, Temporary 113 

Honey-houses, Types of 113 

Honey-knives 73 

Hospital yard 57 

Launches 108 

Location, Choosing; 1 7, 25, 32 

Manipulation of colonies 60 

Market, Nearness to 22 

Mice in honey -house 110 

Migratory Beekeeping 48 

Milk cans for honey 72 

Minor plants 19 

Motorcycles 108 

Moths • 76 

Moving Bees 95 

Moving a few miles 97 

Moving by rail 101 

Moving long distances 99 

Moving short distances 97 

Number of colonies in location 40 

Overstocking 20, 40 

Packing methods, Outdoor 83 

Pollen 56 

Portable equipment 47 

Power for extractor 124 

Queen excluders 64 

Queenless colonies 54 

Queens clipped 59 

Queens, Young 62 

Ramada 30 

Receptacles for the crop 72 

Records of colonies 50 

Removing the honey 67 

Rental price 33 

Requeening 62, 77 

Requisites 15 

Roads, Good 26 

Robber cloths 68 

Screened entry 112 

Screens for the honey-house Ill 

Screening hives for moving 97 

Settling tanks 72 

Shade for hives 29, 61 

Shares, Bees on 36 

Single colony case 84 

Slope for hives 28 

Spacing of frames 61, 65 

Spring dwindling 54 

Steam for knife outside 123 

Summer work 59 

Supers and supering 63 

Supers, Replacing 70 

Supers, Taking off 67 

Supers, wet, carrying over . 71 

Swarm control . . 59 



x INDEX 

Systems of management 47 

Temperature in cellar 91 

Tents for extracting 114 

Trailers 107 

Uniting 54 

Ventilation 61 

Water for bees 43, 56 

Watering places 43, 44 

Wax extractors 43 

Windbreaks 27 

Windows in honey-house 110 

Winter, Preparing for 79 

Winter work 53, 79 

Wintering, Cellar 81, 89 

Wintering, Outdoor 81 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The late John Harbison Fig. 1 

Minor honey-plants are useful Fig. 2 

Broken land furnishes diversity of flora Fig. 3 

Bees gathered around rye chop in spring Fig. 4 

Diagram of the Dadant apiaries Fig. 5 

The apiary should be well above flood marks Fig. 6 

A slope furnishes the most natural windbreak Fig. 7 

Some beekeepers use a slatted fence windbreak Fig. 8 

A brush fence windbreak Fig. 9 

A Kansas apiary protected by natural windbreak Fig. 10 

1 ' Ramada ' ' in New Mexico serving as shade Fig. 11 

Colonies in long rows facing in same direction Fig. 12 

The hives may be placed in rows facing each other Fig. 13 

The Scholl apiaries are arranged in groups of five Fig. 14 

John W. Cash finds forty colonies the limit Fig. 15 

The California apiary often contains 200 colonies Fig. 16 

A watering place for bees should be provided Fig. 17 

A three-deck watering trough of a queen-breeder Fig. 18 

Rough records on the back of hive caps Fig. 19 

Ten pound friction-top pail for stimulative feeding Fig. 20 

Five-gallon oil cans for hauling feed Fig. 21 

Placing wet combs in the open is to be discouraged Fig. 22 

The France honey strainer Fig. 23 

The Dadant strainer for barrels Fig. 24 

Large settling tanks for storing honey Fig. 25 

Box arranged for sulphuring combs from below Fig. 26 

A cylindrical honey-house made for storing combs Fig. 27 

Hives wintering close together Fig. 28 

An apiary of chaff-packed hives Fig. 29 

The single colony packing case finds many advocates Fig. 30 

The quadruple case is difficult of improvement in colder latitudes 

where outdoor wintering is desired Fig. 31 

A pile of leaves stacked in nets Fig. 32 

The leaves are corded on a big truck Fig. 33 

The straw mat is placed next to the frames Fig. 34 

Placing the big telescope covers back on the hives Fig. 35 

The completely packed hive Fig. 36 

( hie of the France cellars in Wisconsin Fig. 37 

Cheap temporary cellar as used by Western Honey Producers in 

Iowa Fig. 38 

Hive screened for moving in hot weather P ig. 39 

Moving an apiary 40 miles by auto truck Fig. 40 

How one California queen-breeder moves his outfit to a new location Fig. 41 

The truck is fast replacing the slower wagon in moving bees Fig. 42 

Where the haul is short and the weather cool, colonies may be moved 

with the covers on Fig. 43 

" *< Md Sally/' a seemingly indestructible car in the Dadant apiaries, 

seeing service in moving bees a short distance Fig. 44 

A light pleasure car with commodious box on the rear, is a prime 

requisite in the small outapiary system Fig. 45 



A big three ton truck hauling cased honey F 

Trailer pulled by a pleasure car F 

Another type of trailer often encountered . . F: 

For transporting bees, there is nothing better than the launch . . . . F 

Bees clustering around a screened window F 

Screened entry to the honey-house that will keep bees out F 

A temporary house in use in a Texas apiary F 

Three types of extracting houses F 

Honey-house built so that it may be cut apart F 

Honey-house with ample ventilation for extracting F 

An outapiary honey-house with cellar beneath F 

Central extracting plant of K. E. Sutton F 

Central plant of the Jager apiaries in Minnesota F 

Interior arrangement of M. H. Mendleson honey-house F: 

A. A. Lyons of Colorado runs two extractors . . . . F 

Settling tanks and heating system in basement F 



46 

A*7 



g.47 
g.48 
g.49 
g.50 
51 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 
60 
61 



CHAPTER! 

PREREQUISITES 

When the beekeeper outgrows beekeeping in his home apiary 
and decides to take up outapiary work, it is assumed that this 
is done with the main object of increasing his income. 

It is therefore evident that it is desired to eliminate the non- 

ntials and to formulate a plan that will give him the greatest 
returns for the least labor involved. He must make the most 
out of the apiary always, but he should do it in the least time 
and not sacrifice himself to petty details to the detriment of his 
ever-growing industry. The grass may not be well kept, the 
hives may be out of level, but the other extreme of minute exact- 
ness in outapiary work is nearly as bad as lack of care, at least 
financially. 

Experiments as a rule will, or should be, confined to the home 
apiary, in which more time may be spent and more careful super- 
vision given, though the keeping of outapiaries will give oppor- 
tunity for a larger variety of experiments and room for more 
general observation on many subjects. 

In the early days of outapiaries it was considered good practice 
to keep a man at each apiary during the summer. In f.ome 
instances now, where very large outapiaries are possible, a helper 
is kept at each yard during the swarming season. But with 
the coming of the automobile and truck, and with better roads, 
it is the usual practice to handle all yards from a central home 
apiary or from several central apiaries if the system is sufficiently 
large to warrant division of control. 

The Beginnings of Outapiaries 

Too many of us are apt to assume that outapiaries are of but 
recent development; that they have been in operation but a 

13 



OUT API ARIES 




Fig. 1. The late John Harbison of California, one of the pioneers in 
production of honey in outapiaries. 



PREREQUISITES 15 

few years. Yet two of America's pioneer beekeepers were wont 
to handle their bees in several apiaries and made a success of 
producing and selling honey. As early as 1869 John Harbison of 
California was mentioned as having several hundred colonies 
scattered in different localities, while Adam Grimm, one of Wis- 
consin's most noted beekeepers, was considered a prominent 
authority on hauling bees to outapiaries, the overstocking of 
localities, etc. His writings on these subjects appeared in the 
American Bee Journal as early as 1874. 

Dependent on the Man 

It will be useless to try to give a definite plan in this book 
whereby anyone can keep bees either at home or in the outapiary 
and be uniformly successful. Success will depend chiefly on the 
man. He must first of all be a successful beekeeper in his home 
apiary. A beekeeper who cannot make a success of his home yard 
should not attempt the more difficult outapiary management, 
for he will surely fail. 

Furthermore, he should have his heart in his work. Nor 
must he be so wrapt in details that he cannot give up some of 
these in order to make his plans correspond to the demands of 
his increased holdings. 

Prime Requisites 

The beekeeper should decide before launching into outapiary 
work, as to the kind of hive he is to use. It should, as much as 

sible, be elastic enough to fit in with his system, bearing in 
mind that non-swarming should be one of the prime requisites; 

ecially is this true with the outapiary, where only occasional 
visits are made. 

His bees should be of good energetic stock, disease resistant, 
and as nearly non-swarmers as is possible. Unless he has had 
experience with other races, he can do no better than to stick 
to pure Italian stock. 



16 OUTAPIARIES 

General Subjects Given Limited Treatment 

It will be impossible in this book to give detailed plans of 
operations on specific subjects such as swarm control, disease, 
wintering, increase, and honey production. 

These subjects will necessarily be treated only as they apply 
specifically to outapiaries, and the reader is advised to make a 
study of each subject in connection with some good text book 
on beekeeping. Subjects more generally applicable to outapiaries 
such as moving of bees, honey houses, automobiles and convey- 
ances, etc', will be more fully treated. 

Extracted honey will be discussed mostly since it lends itself 
best to the outapiary. 



CHAPTER II 



CHOOSING A LOCATION 

For many years there has been conducted, in the American 
Bee Journal, a department to answer questions for beginners 
and veteran beekeepers alike. Probably one of the questions 
most frequently asked is "Where shall I locate?" 

Desirable Place to Live 

This question cannot be answered to the satisfaction of all, 
• since each person has considerations outside of beekeeping which 

will affect his choice. The climate, a home, educational facilities 
, for his children, etc., will have a bearing on nearly everyone. 
i One man might not like, or his family might not be able to stand, 
1 the rigors of a Montana winter, another might balk at the damp- 
i ness of an Arkansas bottom, while another might prefer the soli- 
1 tude of a California ranch to the busy life nearer the larger cities. 

Still another might desire the higher altitudes for reasons of 

health. 

Many will have established themselves and will hesitate to 
leave old associates and ties already made, only in order to increase 
the honey yield. 

Granted, however, that this has been taken into consideration, 
and that the questioner is concerned only with the value of 
locating for honey production, there are several things which 
should be taken into account before final decision is made, and 
moreover, such final decision should be reserved until personal 
inspection of the place has been carefully made by the 
beekeeper. Too many have located only on the advice of some 

17 



18 



OUTAPIARIES 



friend or on the suggestion of some article about a certain section, 
laying stress on the desirable features of such location while omit- 
ting the drawbacks, which in themselves might alter the situation. 

We have in mind a veterinarian who left a certain section 
previously recommended to him. It was an excellent place for 
his practice, but he held fleas in abhorrence, and they abounded 
there. 




Fig. 2. Minor Honey plants are useful in helping stimulate brood-rearing. 



CHOOSING A LOCATION 19 

Honey and Pollen 

A first class place for honey production must be one containing 
honey plants in sufficient quantity to assure at least one main 
flow during the year; the best places being those which contain 
the greatest profusion of plants, and are capable of guaranteeing 
the largest surplus yield. 

In the white clover regions, of the East and Central West, 
those places are most sought after which have another main flow 
besides the clover, because the clover flow is not certain. A bass- 
wood location or sweet clover, buckwheat, or fall flowers combine 
well with white clover, while a location containing a number of 
these w T ould be preferable to one with only two flows. 

Naturally, we might conceive of a location having all of these 
flowers which would be only of minor importance in honey pro- 
duction, from the fact that such plants were not in sufficient 
abundance to make a surplus flow, while another location contain- 
ing clover alone, might give such enormous crops in good seasons 
as to overbalance failures of short years. 

In the West, alfalfa and sweet clover make a good combination; 
in the Pacific belt, sage, sweet clover, alfalfa, bean, orange, and 
other locations are sought. 

Climatic conditions are a determining factor in nectar secre- 
tion. Some apparently good clover locations are not of the 
best because climatic conditions are not good during the period 
of the honey flow, or the summer becomes so dry that the clover 
" burns out" and a complete failure follows. Average rainfall 
and average temperature should be carefully studied. Irrigated 
districts here have an advantage, for the moisture is in stable 
quantity and removes one uncertainty from the crop. 

It is not only the main honey flowers which must be considered 
however, minor honey plants may help greatly in building up 
the colonies in the early spring. Pollen plants will induce brood 
rearing, though it is possible to some extent to supplement early 
pollen artificially. Minor honey plants may also encourage brood 



20 



OUTAPIARIES 



rearing between flows in the summer or fall, when otherwise, 
the colony would depopulate to such an extent that little of the 
second or third crop might be secured. Also a small flow in 
early fall may stimulate brood rearing, thus putting the bees into 
winter quarters with a large force of young bees. M. V. 
Facey of Minnesota asserts that the largest variety of honey plants 
is to be found in a ' 'broken ' country. The low lands will furnish 
late flowers, while the trees and- plants of the hills and uplands 
will, in ordinary seasons, give a continual source of honey from 
early spring to late fall. 

Overstocking 

It may be that after such a location has been found, the bee- 
keeper will discover the territory already occupied with bees and in 




Fig, 3. A broken land furnishes the greatest diversity of flora 



CHOOSING A LOCATION 



21 



danger of overstocking if another live beekeeper with a series of 
apiaries establishes himself in this locality. 

Although there is no law preventing overstocking or protecting 
the old established beekeeper in his location against the new, yet 
it is a pretty well observed unwritten law that an already estab- 
lished beekeeper should be protected in his rights of pasturage 
in the vicinity surrounding his apiaries. Besides, it would be 
folly to begin new apiaries under such handicaps, since the per 
colony production would not only be cut down for the established 
man, but for the newcomer as well. 

The specific question as to what overstocking of a locality 
is, will be treated in another chapter. 

It would be our advice to the new beekeeper to consider well 
before settling in a section already taken up by extensive bee- 





• | 








:V «tMW~ aim 


* ■ . 

Hi 


- - - / t 




***** *ntmij '^' ' ^ -' ^i 









Fig. 4. Bees gathered around two buckets of rye chop which had been set 
out in early spring during a dearth of natural pollen. 



22 OtJTAPIARlES 

keepers, and probably the best way to get an idea of the possi- 
bilities of such locations is by intimate conversation with these 
beekeepers. 

No Foulbrood 

The up-to-date beekeeper knows how to combat disease, and 
may, with care and persistent work, rid his apiaries of both Euro- 
pean and American foulbrood. But it would be a great relief 
if it were possible to locate in a section entirely free from disease. 
Outside of losses caused by applying disease remedies, the labor 
will be reduced greatly where it is not necessary always to be on 
the alert for foulbrood. 

Many a manipulation practiced in the locality without disease 
is impossible where foulbrood exists. Beekeepers hesitate to 
interchange combs, to strengthen weak colonies from the strong, 
and some, even, do not raise extracted honey because of the fear 
that foulbrood will necessitate the destruction of many extracting 
combs. One prominent beekeeper in Illinois has built up a nice 
bulk-honey business by running entirely for comb honey in shal- 
low frames and buyirg extracted honey to pack with it. 

Naturally, states which have well balanced foulbrood laws 
and extension departments where beekeeping is in the hands of 
specialists will be preferred. 

Nearness to Market 

Depending on whether the beekeeper expects to wholesale 
his honey in large quantities or whether he wishes to work up a 
retail trade for his own brand, he should decide whether to place 
himself near to his markets or can afford to be further away. The 
working up of a special retail trade in many ways offers advan- 
tages. It occupies the time of the producer when work is slackest 
in the apiary. It gives him a better price for his product. 

The item of transportation is not a small one. There are 
excellent locations for bees which are slow to be taken up because 



CHOOSING A LOCATION 23 

they are a long distance from a railroad and the haul over rough 
roads is expensive. The advent of the automobile truck irto 
out apiary beekeeping is lessening this objectionable feature in 
a measure, but the transportation expense is still there. 

It may pay the beekeeper to live nearer his markets even 
though he produce much less honey. 



24 



0UTAP1AR1ES 




Fig. 5. The Dadant apiaries in 1919. The upper cluster of apiaries are 
primarily clover locations. Those in the bottom-land are temporary loca- 
tions to which bees are moved for the fall flow, while the five bluff locations 
are a combination for both clover and fall. It is hard to overstock the 
bottom locations during a heavy fall flow. The circles represent a 
diameter of 4 miles, with the apiary in the center. 



CHAPTER III 



SELECTING APIARY SITES 

Having chosen his general location, it remains for the bee- 
keeper to select sites for his individual apiaries. With the object 
in view of an ever increasing business, these apiaries should be 
located with due respect to each other and to the home yard, to 
make the work as systematic as possible. With most outapiarists 
using automobiles, to do their work, it is oftentimes possible 
to visit several apiaries in a day, and for this, especially, the 
apiaries should be arranged in series, having, for instance, three 
or four apiaries in one general direction so they may be reached 
on the same trip without too much extra time spent on the road. 

Other things being equal, it would be a mistake to locate 
one apiary ten miles south and the other ten miles north of the 
home yard when they might be placed in the same general direction 
and four or five miles apart. 

Distance Apart 

As a general rule apiaries of any size should not be located 
less than two miles apart, and if the terrain is not limited, it would 
be well to increase 1 this distance to four or five miles. It takes 
little time with a horse, and still less with a car, to travel the 
extra two or three miles when this would be an advantage rather 
than have the pasturage overlap. 

This matter of distance makes less difference in a bountiful 
season than in a poor one. In the white clover regions during 
a heavy flow it is doubtful whether bees go farther than a mile 
in search of nectar, and it is certain that the bulk of their harvest 
is procured much nearer than this. But the beekeeper has not 
only to consider the heavy flow, but also the light flows and 

25 



26 0UTAP1ARIES 

honey dearth. He must arrange his apiaries so that they will 
be most advantageously located for the bad season as well as the 
good. 

The shape of the country sometimes has a great deal to do 
with the distance bees will fly to get nectar. Instances have 
been noted where bees w T ent as far as six miles for nectar. Over 
hills and woods bees will fly less distance than over a level prairie 
or down an unbroken valley. 

Honey Flora 

Not only in choosing his general location, but in choosing 
each apiary site, the beekeeper must be guided largely by the 
flora afforded. There is a wide range of flora sometimes in a 
restricted territory, and it may be possible to increase the yield 
to an appreciable extent by observing the rules which apply in 
deciding upon the general apiary site — the one which has the 
greatest variety of honey and pollen flowers, besides having the 
best opportunity for major honey flows from the more important 
plants. 

A shift of location of a mile or two, especially in a broken 
country, may give your bees access to a honey flow which they 
might otherwise miss. It may even be advisable to change the 
location for a single season to place the apiary near a large field 
of alsike, sweet clover, buckwheat, or similar plant. 

Good Roads 

The location, if possible, should be on good roads, which will 
allow of trips and examinations even in most unfavorable weather. 
Spring trips, for feeding and early examinations; often have to 
be taken at a time when roads are at their worst, and it is some- 
thing in its favor if the apiary can be reached without undue 
effort. 

Then, too, there is the hauling away of the surplus crop, the 
requeening, and other examinations, which must be done at the 
stipulated time, muddy roads or not. 



SELECTING APIARY SITES 



27 




Fig. 6. The apiary should be located well above the flood mark of highest 

water. 

High Ground, etc. 

It is not advisable to locate in a marshy basin where there 
is recurrent danger of standing water and even floods. The 
apiary should be on fairly high ground, and in all cases, the hives 
should be placed so they may not stand in the water, or if it is 
necessary to use such a location, hives should be protected, as 
they are in sections of Florida, by being raised on scaffolds high 
enough to be beyond the danger of rising and receding waters. 
In these instances the roads are water and trips are made by skiff 
or motor boat. The late 0. 0. Poppleton, long idea hive advocate, 
was very successful with his Florida apiaries, all of which were 
located so as to be approached by motor boat. 



Windbreaks 

Especially in northern latitudes where wintering is one of 
the main problems, it is desirable to so locate the apiary that it 
will be protected from the prevailing winds. This may be done 
in one of several ways. Coggshall of New York, advised placing 



28 



0UTAP1ARIES 




ji.jiLJ «-?y] 






r • i i- 



-1" 1 «- 1*1 f ~ 



~i . ^r* 



Fig. 7. A slope furnishes the most natural windbreak. Dadant home 
apiary where bees have been kept continuously for over forty years. 

the apiary near a wood so that the force of the wind would be 
broken, or within a double row of shrubbery or evergreens. 

Another good way is to locate on a slope, away from the 
prevailing winds, which would be usually, in the northern hemis- 
phere, on a southern or south-eastern slope. This would have 
the added advantage of giving the bees the sun's rays to keep 
them warm, though in rare instances there might be danger of the 
bees being enticed to fly when the air was yet too cool, resulting 
in a loss of chilled bees outside the hive. 

Artificial windbreaks are frequently used. High fences are 
often placed on the north and west of apiaries to turn the wind, 
while some beekeepers believe that a slatted fence is better. The 
slatted fence, they argue, breaks the force of the wind while a 
tight fence deflects the wind upwards, creating a vacuum and 



SELECTING APIARY SITES 



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Fig. 8. Some beekeepers use a slatted fence as windbreak. This fence 

breaks the force of the wind but does not cause drifting of 

snow. A Fettit apiary in Ontario. 

causing an undercurrent which is as bad as the wind itself. Then 
too, the tight board fence is apt to cause snow drifts covering 
the first row of hives if they are placed close to the fence. In 
the accompanying cut we show one of the Fettit apiaries in 
Ontario with slatted fence for windbreak. 



Shade 



In warmer climates, shade for the hives is desirable, although 
there is but little doubt that broken shade is preferable to a dense 
shade during the whole of the day. Too much shade is apt to 
delay the bees in getting out in the morning and it also holds the 
bees in the hive earlier in the evening. Too dense shade in hot 
weather causes lack of air circulation. Colonies may suffocate 
and combs melt down under the most unfavorable conditions, 



30 



OUT APIARIES 




Fig. 9. A brush fence at the back of one of the Rauchfuss apiaries in 

Colorado, that serves the double purpose of breaking the force of the wind 

in winter and raising the line of flight of bees in summer, so that they 

do not disturb passers-by. 



Some adjust the matter by using shade boards over the cover 
of the hive. There is little doubt however, that a reasonable 
amount of natural shade is beneficial, and to the beekeeper at 
work as well as to the bees. 






In New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of California, on the plains 
where natural shade is lacking, the apiarist builds a "ramada" 
or sort of shed covered with long grass, under which the bees are 
placed in double rows, back to back, with an alley way between, 
Jn such locations shade is well nigh indispensable. 



SELECTING APIARY SITES 



31 




Fig. 10. A Kansas apiary protected by a natural windbreak. 




Fig. 11. "Ramada" in New Mexico which serves as a shade for the bee- 
keeper while he works as well as for the bees. 



32 0UTAPIAR1ES 

Other Considerations 

If the apiary is to be placed with other people and partly 
in their care, the beekeeper must exercise judgment in choice 
of families. A man who lets his cows rim upon the roads, leaves 
his fences out of repair, and has things at loose ends about tho 
premises is hardly the man with whom to place your bees. 

When possible it is advisable to place the apiary within sight 
of a house to reduce the danger of depredations to a minimum, 
and it should be near enough to the main traveled road, but 
remembering that angry bees are apt to travel twenty rods or 
more to seek revenge. 

In case it is intended to use a building already on the premises 
as a honey-house, the apiary should be as readily accessible as 
possible to the honey-house. 



CHAPTER IV 



BASIS OF PLACING THE APIARY 

Probably the two best ways to locate apiaries would be either 
to own the ground upon which you expect to place your bees or 
have some relative own it. It may be possible, in many instances 
to purchase an acre or two in the desired location or to lease it 
for a long term of years. 

However, not being able to purchase the desired spot, and 
having no relative fortunately located directly in the path of your 
proposed apiary, the only thing remaining is to make arrange- 
ments with the existing forces — namely — the occupants of the 
location chosen. 

Owner Not Renter 

Where possible choose a land owner and not a renter, and one 
who seems to be satisfied with his location with no desire to 
change. It is annoying, after having gone to some lengths to 
choose and arrange your location, to be moved off by the next 
renter who does not like bees, or the next purchaser of the farm 
who does not care to be lt bothered " with them. 

Where the, location is sought for only a single season such 
considerations are not of so much weight, but we presume that a 
majority of locations are desired permanently, and it is in these 
instances that it is wise to choose well the man and family with 
whom you try to make arrangements for your apiary. 

Rental Price 

There are three possible ways of arranging for rental in placing 
bees; by share, cash, or gift. 

33 



34 OUTAPIARIES 

It is only occasionally that the land owner is willing to allow 
the bees on his place without compensation; and why should the 
beekeeper ask it? No doubt that in many instances the bees 
do the farmer much good through increased fertility of plants, 
but the beekeeper is getting value received and should pay for 
it. 

In times past, more than now, a share rental varying from a 
fifth to a tenth of the honey was in favor. The argument for 
this is that it gives the land owner a direct interest in your success 
since it means added income for him if you do well. But with 
the advent of the automobile the outapiarist is less dependent 
upon the landowner for board for himself and teams. In fact 
it very often happens that it is neither advisable nor profitable 
for him to loiter for an hour or two till meal time when he could 
easily, in the same time, return home or go to the next outyard 
and commence operations. Another point is that the apiarist 
may want to run one year entirely for increase with no surplus 
crop, or another year he may have to feed heavily, when it would 
be no more than right that the landowner should bear his pro- 
portion of the feed given. 

Thecash rental is given in the largest number of instances. 
The amount varies greatly with the different apiarists, being as 
high as $50.00 in some instances and as low as $5.00 in others, 
depending on the section of the country and upon the quality 
of the land upon which the bees are located. 

In California the usual rental price for bees in the forest 
reserves is ten cents per colony spring count. The late E. France 
of Wisconsin reported in 1895 giving 25 cents per colony. In 
all instances it pays to be free with gifts of honey and to keep on 
the best of terms with the landlord. 

In some instances the agreement includes that the owner 
shall hive all swarms, in others he is paid from 25 cents to $1.50 
for each swarm hived. 

We would favor a cash rental averaging probably $20.00 to 



BASIS OF PLACING THE APIARY 35 

$25.00 per year for each local ion for an apiary of 75 to 125 colonies 
with a cash payment of 75 cents to $1.00 for each swarm hived. 

In any case the agreement should be in writing, copies to 
be retained both by the landlord and the beekeeper, so that there 
can be no question later as to terms agreed upon. We give below 
■a standard form for such an agreement which can be altered to 
suit specific conditions. 

This article of agreement made and entered into this 

day of ; 19. ... , by and between 

party of the first part and 

party of the second part, witnesseth: 

That in consideration of one dollar in hand paid by the said 
second party and the stipulations and agreements hereinafter 
mentioned, said first party hereby agrees to lease to the said 

second party, the following lands to wit acres in the 

part of his home place, for a period 

of years. 

It is hereby mutually agreed that the said land shall be used 
as an apiary site and for no other purpose except as may be 
necessary in the care of the bees and the production and market- 
ing of honey and wax. 

The second party hereby agrees to pay to the first party the 

sum of dollars annually on or before the first 

of July as rental for said premises, with an additional rental of 
fifty pounds of honey each season that the total production of 
honey from said apiary reaches two thousand pounds or more 

Said second party agrees to build a suitable fence to protect 
said apiary from live stock at his own expense and to keep same 
in repair during the life of the agreement. 



36 OUTAPIARIES 

It is further agreed that the said second party shall have 
access to said premises by way of an already established road: 
that he shall have the privilege of erecting buildings thereon for 
his own use in connection with the said apiary and that such 
buildings shall remain the property of the second party and he 
shall retain the right to remove the same at any time that he 
shall have occasion to do so. 

Signed in duplicate this day of 19 . . 

Signed 



It may not be amiss to give form of agreement suitable for 
running of bees on shares, where it is even more desirable to have 
an absolute agreement between the two contracting parties. The 
agreement may vary with the conditions. We give below the 
usual share agreement where the bees are owned by one party 
and run by another on the share basis. 

This agreement made on this first day of December 1919, by 
and between John Smith and Stephen Brown, witnesseth: 

That the said John Smith hereby agrees io lease to Stephen 
Brown 200 colonies of bees together with hives and equipment 
and to furnish such extra supers as may be necessary to harvest 
the crop, for the season of 1920. 

The said Stephen Brown agrees to give prompt and careful 
attention to said bees, to use due care to guard against disease, 
and if disease be found at any time to give proper treitment 
therefor; to use diligence in saving all swarms that may issue, 
to provide necessary stores for needy colonies, and to perform 
all other necessary labor in the harvesting of the honey crop and 
attending to the usual work of the apiary. At the close of the 
season he further agrees to return to John Smith the full number 
of colonies provided with sufficient stores for the coming winter, 
provided, however, that he shall not be responsible for losses 
caused by tornadoes, storms or other causes beyond his control, 



BASIS OF PLACING THE APIARY 37 

and provided also that in case of honey dearth and short crop 
necessitating feeding, such sugar as required is to be supplied by 
the said John Smith. 

It is further mutually agreed that all surplus honey and wax 
shall be divided equally between John Smith and Stephen Brown, 
and that each shall furnish the necessary containers for his portion; 
also that all increase shall be likewise equally divided and that 
each shall furnish one-.half the necessary hives therefor, and that 
the said Stephen Brown shall furnish his own tools, provide for 
his own board and other expenses; that the said John Smith shall 
not be held liable for any expenses except as herein provided. 
Signed this first day of December, 1919. 

JOHN SMITH 
STEPHEN BROWN 



CHAPTER V 



THE APIARY ITSELF 

Depending upon the permanency of the apiary, the beekeeper 
will look after ita arrangement with more or less detail. It is 
best to have order and tidiness, in fact the work can usually be 
done with less labor if order is observed, but as stated before in 




Fig. 12. The favorite way is to place the colonies in long rows facing 

the same direction. 



outapiary work it is inadvisable to be so exacting in neatness as 
to make the overhead expense out of proportion to the corres- 
ponding gain. 

39 



40 



OUTAPIARIES 
Arrangement 



Depending upon the system and desire of each individual 
apiarist, the hives may be arranged in rows several feet apart 




Fig. 13. The hives may be placed in rows facing each other. 

facing in the same direction, in rows back to back, or in groups of 
two, three or five as the case may be. But the apiarist should 
give this matter due consideration with the ultimate object of 
making a saving of steps and labor. Too much regularity may 
cause loss of queens in wedding flight and it is well to have trees, 
bushes, etc., to mark the location. 

Number of Colonies 

The number of colonies which may be kept in an apiary will 
vary with each location and is dependent entirely upon the honey 
resources of the locality and the number of bees in that immediate 
vicinity which will share the crop. 



THE APIARY ITSELF 



41 




Fig. 14. The Scholl Apiaries in Texas are arranged in groups of five. 



Adam Grimm, writing in the American Bee Journal in 1874 
said : i ' There is no question with me any longer that the smaller the 
number of colonies kept in one location, the greater will be the 
yield of honey from a singie colony. But the question is not how 
the beekeeper can secure the largest yield of honey from a smaller 
number of colonies, but how can he secure the largest income by 
keeping bees. ,; 

Grimm thought that for his locations in Wisconsin the ideal 
number was from 50 to 100 colonies placed at least three miles 
apart. 

Alexander of New York was able to keep 750 colonies in one 
yard and one year secured an average per colony production of 
141 pounds of extracted honey. It is certain, however, that 
this yield was phenomenal, and was due to an extremely fortunate 
location and to a profusion of bloom from spring to fall. 

It falls upon each beekeeper to determine for himself, either 
by experience or by excellent foresight for just how many colonies 
each locality will afford nectar with the greatest amount of profit, 
not forgetting that the poor seasons must be considered along 
with the good ones. 

John W. Cash of Northern Georgia, a very successful apiarist; 
found that the number, for him, is not to exceed forty colonies, 




Fig. 15. John W. Cash of Georgia finds that forty colonies in an apiary 
is about the limit in his locality. 

while J. J. Wilder of Southern Georgia estimates fifty the maxi- 
mum. In most eastern and central western locations, success- 
ful apiarists keep from 75 to 125 colonies, the number being 
larger as we get into the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific 
Coast, always being dependent on the nectar possibilities of each 
location and the number of other bees to share the pasturage. 



Decoy Hives 

Many outapiansts practice with success, the placing of decoy 
hives in elevated places throughout the apiary to catch a portion 
of the swarms which may come out during the absence of the 
beekeeper. Others so manipulate their bees that the swarms 
issuing are negligible in quantity and not worthy of special 
arrangements. 



THE APIARY ITSELF 



43 



i 




K? 




> 


^ !*1jk& 


•// 


% "^3fc*. 




'- * ,* ^SBB^b 


C;|jPf£.<.' . '" 


"" 4^-»^i"*> 


* "C" ! - ■ 






.-,#■ 


: • '.'... - 


"*■-':< 


- "I 


x , *v % 


^ * Z *** ; 


" 


. ' " : '• ^; i .^' i " 


^ *' 


.;'*> ,4.' 






r '" ■< . ::'■ ".' r • ■ - - ' 


''^'"^IHHH^i"* 4mr**&S$8K . - ."r^y 



Fig. 16. The California apiary often contains two or three hundred 

colonies without overstocking. The above is reproduction of 

one of M. H. Mendleson's apiaries. 

Watering Places 

Water is necessary for bees, and unless it is naturally plentiful 
near the apiary, the bees will find it where they can. Much 
annoyance will be saved near-neighbors around horse and chicken 
troughs if the beekeeper will provide in the apiary sufficient to 
supply the bees and brood during a drought. 

Different devices are used for this, probably the most common 
being a tub or half-barrel with the water covered with an abund- 
ance of small sticks or cork chips. If the barrel is placed under 
the eaves of the honey-house it may be replenished without effort 
on the part of the apiarist. 



Wax Extractors 

Wax scrapings and bits of comb should be saved, and there 
is no better way than to have installed in each permanent out- 
apiary a wax sun extractor which will take care of bits of comb 



44 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 17. A watering place should be provided to keep the bees away 
from the horse and chicken troughs. 




Fig. 18. A three-deck watering trough in use by a large queen-breeder 

in the South. 



THE APIARY ITSELF 45 

thrown in and will, at the same time, provide safe resting place 
for odds and ends of comb in which there are small quantities 
of honey. 

Fire 

We have known of whole apiaries being swept by fire and 
totally destroyed through lack of foresight or negligence on the 
part of their owner, to. make proper safeguards before a drought. 
It is time well spent to have your apiary in such shape that fire 
cannot spread. Besides, weeds in the apiary serve no good pur- 
pose. They hinder the flight of the bees if left in front of the 
hives. 

Extra Supplies 

Extra hives, supers, etc., at each apiary are within the discre- 
tion of the apiarist. It is, however, a good plan to have smoker 
veils, hive tool, a few hives, and a few supers ready at hand in 
case they are needed. 

Mary apiarists establish honey-houses and full outfits for 
extracting at each yard. While these are not absolutely neces- 
sary, we consider them of sufficient importance to warrant a 
special chapter on honey-houses. 



CHAPTER VI 



GENERAL SYSTEMS OF 
MANAGEMENT 

With every beekeeper will lie the task of determining his 
specific system of management. Each one will have peculiari- 
ties of management which will affect the general system he will 
follow in his outapiaries. Moreover, financial and other con- 
siderations may have a bearing in determining just which of the 
following systems he will consider a model. 

The Permanent Apiary 

Probably a large percentage of outapiarists establish their 
outyards with some degree of permanency, and most of these 
have honey-houses at each outyard to take care of supers and 
equipment and in which to do the extracting. 

Many of these have a full equipment at each yard so that 
the only hauling is new equipment, feed, etc.. and the bringing 
in of the extracted crop. However, an extracting equipment 
at each yard means much idle capital during a large portion of 
the year. Moreover, such equipment is likely to suffer more 
from neglect than from use. 

Likely a larger proportion have a portable extracting equip- 
ment, thus requiring less capital. The extractor, uncapping 
cans, melters, etc., are carried from apiary to apiary, the honey 
usually being hauled home as fast as extracted. 

47 



48 OUTAPIARIES 

Shifting Apiaries and the Portable System 

In many regions it is inadvisable to establish on so permanent 
a basis, and the beekeepers place their outyards without any pro- 
vision for housing equipment except temporary shelter for supers, etc. 
Extracting, in these instances, is done in a tent, in a light,quickly 
erected and quickly transported house of screen or of muslin, or 
in a portable house on wheels. This plan is practiced in all parts 
of the country, but lends itself to existing conditions best in Cali- 
fornia and other extreme western locations, where migratory bee- 
keeping is popular. 



Migratory Beekeeping 

The older reader, when migratory beekeeping is mentioned, 
will recall more especially the experiences of C. 0. Perrine and 
others in attempting to practice migratory beekeeping between 
the North and the South, a long haul, fraught with large chances 
of failure, and usually proven so unsuccessful as to leave no doubt 
as to the inefficiency of the idea. 

But the advent of the automobile and truck has made a uni- 
form success of migratory beekeeping on a short haul, say of 100 
miles or less. Many central western beekeepers now haul their 
bees from the clover fields to the river bottoms in fall to catch 
the honey from heartease and Spanish needle. In California 
it allows opportunity to go to the orange groves, thence to the 
bean fields, to the sage and alfalfa, or to any other crop in reach 
of the beekeeper. 

Some beekeepers, in fact, have had success in carload ship- 
ments from California to Nevada and Utah and back, and recent 
successes were reported of shipments to Utah and Wyoming by 
Texas beekeepers during their seasons of drouth and dearth in 
1916 and 1917. 

Migratory beekeeping on hauls of 100 miles or less may be 
considered a success, but long trans-continental hauls will need 



GENERAL SYSTEMS OF MANAGEMENT 49 

an experienced beekeeper who is readily able to incur losses sus- 
tained by unfortunate occurrences which are to be expected with 
this plan in too great frequency, and who knows the ins and outs 
of moving bees on a large scale. 



The Central Plant 

An increasing number of our larger beekeepers dispense with 
equipment at each yard and have a central plant, all supers being 
stored at home, and all honey being hauled in by truck to be 
extracted. 

This has the advantage that, in the central plant, all con- 
veniences may be installed permanently. Many items of equip- 
ment may be added that would otherwise not be practical. 

With such equipment and a central force, a larger daily average 
of honey can be extracted. The apiarist is usually surer of regular 
hours, and one set of equipment is all that is necessary. 

At the end of the season, all supers are at home where they 
can be overhauled for the coming crop. 

The disadvantages are that there is greater chance of spreading 
foulbrood; in fact some of the champions of this system would 
not use it were foulbrood prevalent in their vicinity. There is 
some danger to run from melting or breaking the heavy combs 
while hauling them, and, moreover, roads must be good enough 
for your truck to travel. 

In hauling the sticky combs back to the apiaries, robbing 
is likely to occur. Then, too, if some of your apiaries are 30 or 
40 miles away the long haul may increase trucking costs possibly 
to the point of overbalancing the advantages. 

If bees are cellar-wintered, cellars will be needed at the out- 
yard in addition. 



50 



OUTAPIARIES 



Probably a large proportion of beginners will do well to es- 
tablish outyards with some provision for extracting there until 
the central system can be applied directly to their needs through 
experience. It would be difficult in most instances to get a large 
beekeeper who has used the central plant to go back to the older 
method. 



Keeping Records 

Probably in no branch of beekeeping do we find such a diver- 
sity in mejhod as in the keeping of records of individual colonies. 
Likely the most minute and most efficient system would be a 
card index with a card for each colony, properly subdivided 
to record each operation. Close records may also be 
kept by record books. Systems of colored pegs, signs, discs, 
etc., placed on the hives or beside them are also used with success. 




Fig. 19. Rough records on the back of hive caps are used by many large 

producers. 



GENERAL SYSTEMS OF MANAGEMENT 51 

Probably a great proportion of large beekeepers keep only 
partial records of colonies, using a "rough and ready" system, 
while some use no records at all. It is advisable to have records 
sufficient to trace the progress of disease, the age of queens and 
the honey producing qualities of all colonies. 

Extensive records are hardly practical for the outapiarist. 
That is why we see, in increasing numbers, the use of indelible 
crayon, blue pencil, etc., on the inside of hive cover or on the 
back of the hive. Such marks will last a year or two before they 
are obliterated by the weather, only to be replaced by newer 
records by the beekeeper. 



CHAPTER VII 



WINTER AND SPRING WORK 

If his bees have been properly prepared for winter the out- 
apiarist will have little to occupy him in the apiary except to see 
that bees in cellars are wintering properly or that entrances are 
free from ice if he practices out-of-door wintering. This 
can usually be arranged in co-operation with the farmer at whose 
place the bees are kept so that numerous trips to the outapiary 
will hardly be necessary. 



First Examination 

As soon as the bees have a good cleansing flight in spring 
and a moderate spell of weather seems imminent, it will be well 
for the beekeeper to make the first round of his outyards. En- 
trances should be freed of the accumulations of winter, dead bees 
if any cleaned out, alighting boards made clear, and all dead 
colonies carefully closed so as to prevent the robbing of their 
honey. 

It is to be hoped that the outapiarist does not have American 
foulbrood to fight, but if he has, and a case has, through oversight or 
neglect, been allowed to go into winter quarters, the colony's death 
during winter without consequent closing up in early spring will 
in all probability give the beekeeper much trouble through spread 
of the infection by robbing. 

It is true that these same combs may be used later 
by the beekeeper in making divisions, but in such instances they 
will only be given to one or two colonies and if proper records 
ftre kept such disease may be easily traced. 

53 



54 OUTAPIAMES 

At this examination it wiU pay to regulate the entrance of 
each colony commensurate with its strength, reducing the weak 
or queenless to a very small bee space and enlarging the entrance 
of the stronger colonies. 

Feed should be at hand to replenish such as have run short 
through one cause or another. 

Many apiarists practice leveling hives on this first round. It 
may be advisable, however, to delay this until later when all 
settling of the ground will have ceased. 

Second Examination 

The first examination, of necessity, will be superficial owing 
to its earliness. One should be wary of disturbing the cluster 
to look for stores, queens, or disease. This may well be attempted 
however, on the second trip which will be made as soon as settled 
weather has arrived. 

Drone-Layers and Queenless Colonies 

In a majority of instances it will not pay to spend valuable 
time on drone-laying or queenless colonies. It is with difficulty 
that queens are secured at this season and such colonies generally 
are very hard to get queen-right. Probably the best procedure 
is to unite all such colonies by Dr. Miller's newspaper plan. This 
may also be advisable with weak queen-right colonies. 
These may profitably be united with drone-layers after the drone- 
laying queen has first been found and disposed of. In a majority 
of instances, however, it will be more profitable to unite a drone- 
layer or a queenless colony with another strong and queen-right 
colony rather than unite several weaker colonies. 

Feeding — Spring Dwindling 

If the beekeeper has been foresighted, he will so have prepared 
his colonies for winter that little feeding will have to be done in 



WIXTEK AND SPRING WORK 



55 




Fig. 20. The ordinary ten-pound friction-top pail with one or two holes 
in the cover may be used as a stimulative feeder. 

the spring, since one of the principles of successful wintering is 
ample stores in the fall. 

In a similar manner, if proper preparations were taken the 
fall before, the bugaboo of "spring dwindling" will usually itself 
"dwindle" to insignificance. A young queen, ample stores, and 
plenty of young bees in the late fall are the best cures for dwindling 
in spring— outapiary or home yard. 



Building up — Stimulative Feeding 

The main factor in spring management, of course, is to have 
all colonies built up to maximum strength for the main honey 
flow, whether it be for the orange blossom of California or the 
white clover of Iowa. 



56 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 21. Five-gallon oil cans are excellent for hauling feed to the outyard 

Ordinarily we would expect best results where there is a natural 
building up through the use of abundant natural stores. But 
in many cases this is not sufficient. 

Natural pollen, in rare instances may be lacking, and the out- 
apiarist may have to provide a substitute. Lack of water may 
also hinder brood rearing, though this is rarely so in early spring. 



Uncapping of sealed honey to induce the bees to use up such 
stores in brood rearing is practiced by some, but this would hardly 
be advisable in the outapiary. Nor would stimulative feeding, 
which consists of giving a small quantity of warm syrup to each 
colony at intervals to imitate a natural flow. B. A. Aldrich of 
Iowa uses ten pound tin pails with but a single hole in the cover 
for stimulation. In this manner the bees get the syrup slowly 
though it is not always served hot. 



WINTER AND SPRING WORK 57 

With excellent prospects for a clover flow, it might pay to 
feed for stimulation between the fruit bloom and clover so as to 
hold brood rearing at its highest point and reach the main flow 
with the largest possible number of bees. The draw- 
backs to stimulative feeding should, however, be weighed care- 
fully by the apiarist as the dangers of chilling brood through 
over stimulation are great. Extra cose of special trips to out- 
yards must also be considered. Involved manipulation is neces- 
sary. Stimulative feeding is advisable mainly in localities where 
several weeks elapse without any bioom, after first bloom. 

Foulbrood 

With the coming of the first flow in spring it is essential that 
all colonies be examined for foulbrood. Some localities are still 
free from the disease, but we never know when it may appear 
in our own yards from causes without. In spring a case of American 
foulbrood develops rapidly, because the bees are then using up 
the faulty stores for their brood, the colony quickly dwindles, 
and the stores, if any, are left at the mercy of the robbers who all 
too quickly transmit the disease to their own young. Here again 
the value of contraction of the entrance of weak colonies is evident, 
since it gives the weak foulbrood colonies opportunity to 
protect themselves until such a time as the beekeeper can 
give proper treatment. 

With European as with American foulbrood the time to examine 
colonies and treat them is as early in spring as possible. Proper 
treatment before or at the beginning of the first flow often may 
result in subsequent building up of the colony for flows to follow. 

The Hospital Yard 

A number of outapiarists practice with success the assembling 
of all colonies with American foulbrood into a single yard for 
treatment. This has advantages which I believe overbalance 
the disadvantages. 



58 OUTAPIARIES 



In the first place, one of the dangers of shaking for foulbrood 
in the outyard is the chance of bees drifting to neighboring col- 
onies with full honey sacs, thus possibly transmitting the disease. 
Manipulations in the outyard are necessarily hurried. Proper 
care, desirable in correct treatment, may not be given. 

If the hospital yard is to be established, it should by all means 
be placed in or near the home yard. Here the best of care may 
be taken and the necessity of extra long trips avoided. 

F. W. Hall of Iowa has practiced this plan for several years 
and finds it very satisfactory. 



„„ 



CHAPTER VIII 



EARLY SUMMER WORK 

The outapiarist now approaches the season which is of great- 
est importance in determining whether his efforts towards keeping 
more bees, and in scattered locations, are to be successful. He 
must be able to so manipulate that his colonies will, in a large 
measure, remain intact for the flows which are to foilow. Faulty 
manipulation with consequent swarming, may mean a lessening 
of the crop to the extent that he will work at a loss, while intense 
management may result either in not being able to care for all 
the bees handled or increase operating expenses beyond the re- 
turns. 

Swarm Control 

Your method of management may call for examination of 
colonies periodically to cut out queen-cells, and to keep all queens 
clipped to prevent swarms leaving, but this entails a large amount 
of extra work at a time when the outapiarist is busiest caring 
for his numerous yards. 

Even though the above method is practiced, the mere fact 
that ail queens are clipped will not prevent the desire on the part 
of the bees to swarm, nor will it prevent an effort to swarm, with 
subsequent loss of time in honey production. 

What we should strive for is to so manipulate the outyards 
that we may keep the impulse to swarm at the minimum, for 
with any system of management a protracted flow may result 
in a small percentage of swarming. We should endeavor to make 
this percentage negligible. 

59 



OUTAPIAHIES 

Six requisites have been emphasized by C. P. Dadant 
as desirable to control swarming. They are, a minimum of drone 
comb, ample breeding room, plenty of super room for honey, 
shade for hives, ample ventilation, and young queens. 



Drone Comb 

The use of full sheets of foundation, both in the brood chamber 
and in super frames, has to a large extent done away with super- 
abundance of drone comb in the hive. Occasionally however, 
carelessness in inserting foundation and improper wiring, resulting 
in sagging, will cause considerable drone comb. It will pay well 
either to cut all drone comb from defective frames and insert 
worker comb or foundation in its stead, or discard such combs 
completely. 

Large Breeding Chamber 

More and more, extensive beekeepers are inclining towards 
the hive with the large brood chamber, especially for extracted 
honey production; a hive in which the queen is unrestricted in 
laying, which will accommodate the most prolific breeding queens. 

Many outapiarists using the ten-frame or even the eight-frame 
Langstroth hive expand the brood chamber by adding a second 
story for the queen as soon as the first one restricts her laying 
powers. Their plan, then, is to restrict the queen again to the 
lower story at the beginning of the first good flow by means of 
the queen excluder using the Demaree plan or some other with 
modifications to insure the largest possible breeding room under 
existing conditions. 

This again calls for considerable manipulation, much more 
than is necessary when the brood chamber has, in one story, the 
necessary breeding room. 



EARLY SUMMER WORK 61 

Shade for the Outapiary 

Shade is provided in the outapiary in several manners; by 
means of shade trees, extra roofs on each hive, or in some sections 
by "ramadas ,, mentioned elsewhere in this book. Care should 
be taken not to have too dense shade or there is a possibility of 
encroaching too much on ventilation which is treated below as 
one of the requisites we are seeking. 

Ventilation 

There is nothing which will more quickly induce bees to clus- 
ter out, sulk, and get the swarming fever than a tota» disregard 
of ventilation. How many an amateur or " backwoods" bee- 
keeper reckons the working qualities of his bees by the number 
clustered at the entrance. How many, too, are sure that this is 
a sign that the bees are going to swarm. Who cannot recall the 
inevitable cluster on the outside of the illy- ventilated box-hive 
on a hot summer day. 

As one prominent beekeeper, James Heddon, said, "beekeep- 
ing is a business of details;" and the entrance, as it affects ventila- 
tion, is not the least of these. . 

Beginning in early spring when the entrance should be expand- 
ed to suit the needs of the growing colony, the out apiarist should 
keep well ahead of his bees, giving at length a full width entrance 
then adding to the ventilation either by reversing the bottom- 
board or by raising the body of the hive from its bottom-board. 
In the height of a honey flow and during intense heat a two inch 
entrance in front or a one inch entrance all around is not exces- 
sive. 

Proper spacing of frames in the hive will also give added ventila- 
tion. It is only recently that the value of a 1^ inch spacing 
of frames has been acknowledged as superior to the stereotyped 
If inch spacing which most of factory-made hives today have. 



62 OUTAPIARIES 

The 1^ inch spacing provides a larger hive not in brood area 
but in ventilation. 

Young Queens 

If we have followed recommendations on preparirg our bees 
for winter, we will have young and vigorous queens heading all 
our colonies for the honey flow the following spring. But it must 
be remembered that there is no orthodox rule applying to the 
desirability of young queens. Some may prove their worthless- 
ness before their progeny has had a chance to demonstrate harvest- 
ing ability and these should be gotten rid of at the earliest moment 
regardless of season. 

But it is evident that the desire to swarm is generally stronger 
in colonies headed by old queens, so that queens less than two 
years old are desirable. 

It may be that a queen has proven so good, her bees have 
been such good honey gatherers, that we have more to gain by 
retaining her, even though we run the risk of swarming. 

There is another matter which should have some bearing on 
queen supersedure,and that is whether or not the queen has been 
through a long, heavy honey flow. In the season of crop failure, 
with breeding restricted, the laying qualities of a queen are not 
put to so severe a test, so that possibly a majority of the more 
prolific may be valuable enough to be retained for another season. 

We cannot leave this subject without mentioning the pian of 
one prominent Iowa apiarist to get young queens for the harvest 
and thus control swarming. 

At the beginning of the honey flow, (clover is his main flow), 
the colonies are carefully gone over and all queens over two years 
old killed. Each colony is properly marked as to which are 
desirable to breed from. 

On the next examination, ten days later, all cells are destroyed 



EARLY SUMMER WOK K 63 

and instead is inserted a comb either with a cell or a grafted cell 
from one of the choice breeding colonies. Again, a week or more 
later, the third examination makes sure that all queens have 
been hatched and mated, cells being inserted where needed from 
colonies previously prepared. 

Supers and Supering 

"Anticipation brings Realization/ ' This is certainly true in 
putting on supers. If the outapiarist waits till the main harvest 
is on at home to begin his round of supering at theoutyards it 
is a safe guess that he will be too late at some one of his outapiaries. 

Conditions would be ideal, certainly, were it possible to have 
all colonies ready at the same time. This may in part be attempt- 
ed by equalizing brood between colonies as is practiced by some. 
This calls for more manipulation. 

The first supers for surplus should be put on at or shortly 
before the opening of the honey flow. This should be before 
the queen becomes restricted in her egg-laying through conges- 
tion of honey in the brood chamber. Certainly it is not a wise 
plan to add supers three weeks in advance of their need, since 
the bees have an added story to keep warm during the cool weather 
of spring. But it would be more desirable to have the supers 
on a week early than a week late. 

So with the second and third supers, they should be given 
as required before the bees become crowded for storing room, while 
in rapid heavy flows two or even three supers may be added at 
once, they being filled with nectar almost as quickly as one. 

Adding another super when the one below is about half full, 
or when the bees are storing honey from one edge of the super to 
the other is the usual procedure. This, of course is to be varied 
with the time of the flow. Toward the close of the flow it will be 
wiser to crowd the bees rather than add extra supers which may 
not be needed. This is especially true in fall flows when we wish 



64 OUTAPI ARIES 



_ 



to crowd the brood chamber for winter and when there is very 
little chance of inducing swarming by such crowding. 

The number of supers which are necessary per hive vary with 
the system adopted by each beekeeper. If he intends to extract 
during the flow he can get along with less supers. More and 
more, outapiarists are practicing the plan of having on hand enough 
drawn supers to hold the crop of an ordinary flow. Then if 
the season is bountiful it may be necessary to extract in the mid- 
dle of the harvest. TheDadant apiaries are run with from three to 
five, six inch depth, Dadant size supers per colony. This will 
hold the average crop. Yet in 1916 it was necessary to keep 
continually extracting to stay ahead of the bees. One apiary was 
extracted four times during the honey flow. 

It is possible to get along with two supers per hive, with care- 
ful manipulation, but four or even six would be much better. 

Queen Excluders 

Many beekeepers running for extracted honey use queen 
excluders to keep the queen from laying in the surplus cases. 
There are two objections to their use. In the first place they 
hinder to some extent the free passage of the bees into the supers 
above. In the second place they restrict the queen and are apt 
to induce swarmirg. 

In hives with a large brood chamber the excluder is not so 
necessary, since the queen has sufficient room below and finds 
no occasion to go above, and with the use of shallow supers in 
connection with the large brood chamber, queen excluders become 
unnecessary except in rare instances. 

To overcome this objection of queen restriction in the smaller 
hives many beekeepers practice the Demaree plan or a modi- 
fication thereof. Until the beginning of the surplus flow the 
queen is allowed the use of two brood chambers for egg laying. 
Immediately the flow starts, she is put into the lower body with 
a frame or two of brood, the balance of the body being filled with 



EARLY SUMMER WORK 

drawn combs or foundation and an excluder is inserted between 

the two bodies. Thus she is supplied for a considerable time with 
ling room. If this he repeated at intervals the queen may he 
supplied with empty combs and the danger of brood restriction 
removed. 

In the greater number of instances, however, the excluder when 
once placed is left for the remainder of the flow. An increasing 
number of beekeep* the excluder till most of the danger of 

swarming i< over, when it is removed and a super of sealed honey 
placed next to the brood chamber to keep the queen from going 
above. 

A- stated above, the use of shallow extracting supers dis- 
courages the queen from going above, especially if such combs 
are spaced far apart, putting eight, or at most nine combs in a 
ten frame super. Mr. Chambers of Arizona claims success in 
putting but eight frames in a regular ten-frame full depth super 
to keep the queen below. 

However, we must not lose sight of the fact that all such plans 
as tend to restrict the laying of the queen are not as desirable as 
those which give her sufficient room, nor do they have as much 
effect in the prevention of swarming. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE HARVEST 

If the beekeeper has sufficient super room for the full crop, 
there will be no trouble. All honey may be removed at the end 
of the season. But if we must extract during the honey flow, 
care is necessary to get only ripe honey,or if any unripe is removed, 
to place it in open tanks to allow evaporation. 

As a general rule, when extracting during the flow, it will not 
be safe to extract any but sealed honey. However, here also the 
beekeeper must use his own discretion. Very often he can tell 
whether the honey will do by its density, by the readiness with 
which it may or may not be shaken from the combs. 

Removing the Honey 

The modern bee-escape is a most useful appliance in removing 
hopey. It is almost indispensable to the comb-honey producer. 
Since the use of the automobile has become so common, the 

ape has enhanced in value to the extracted honey man as well. 
It is but a short trip, nowadays, to the outapiary in the after- 
noon, putting on the escapes so that the extracting may go on in 
full force the next morning. In an hour or two, two men can 
place sufficient escapes for a full day's work for four men, but 
care must be taken in placing these escapes, especially if there 
is a dearth of honey, not to allow openings in the supers where 
robbers may find their way to the unprotected honey. This 
will not only develop a serious case of robbing but may also 
mean the complete emptying of such supers as are exposed. 

The presence of brood in the supers hinders materially the 
effectiveness of the bee-escape. Similarly, if the queen happens 

67 



68 OUTAPIARIES 

in the super, the bees will not desert her to go below. These two 
causes have many times resulted in failure and rejection of the 
escape when with care it would have worked properly. Bees will 
also leave sealed honey much more readily than unsealed. Many 
remove but one super at a time with the escape, but the writer 
has experienced but small chances of failure when removing two, 
three or four supers with one escape, and this is our usual proce- 
dure. 

The greatest hindrance to the escape is very cool weather when 
the bees are less apt to run down. They do go down, at least, 
very slowly. Another objection in cool weather is that when the 
bees go down, the honey cools quickly and when taken off is very 
stiff and cold and hard to uncap and extract. 

Many use no escapes, thus saving themselves an extra trip to 
the outapiary. They use a combination of smoking and brushing 
to rid the combs of bees, driving them below with cautious smok- 
ing, after which the remaining ones may be readily brushed. The 
bristle bee brush is best for this purpose. Carbolic cloths are 
spread over supers by some to drive the bees down. 

The advantage of the bee-escape, however, cannot be denied, 
much overbalancing its disadvantages. 

Each outapiarist has his own method of getting full supers 
from the apiary to the extracting house. Some erect tracks with 
cars capable of loading several supers at a time. A larger 
majority locate the houses as conveniently as possible and use an 
ordinary garden wheelbarrow equipped with springs to lessen 
the jar on the combs. 

It is wise to be provided with burlap cloths to be used as robber 
cloths to cover supers from the time they are taken from the hives 
until they are in the shelter of the extracting buiiding. A flat 
drip pan on the barrow is almost a necessity, especially where bees 
are brushed instead of using the bee- escape. 



THE HARVEST 
Extracting 



60 



The manner of extracting must vary greatly with the system 
of the outapiarist, whether he has a hand portable outfit, a per- 
manent equipment at each yard, or hauls all honey to the central 
plant, and whether he uses a crew of men or practices the one-man 
system. The idea may be to work as rapidly as possible with 
a large crew, or take time and reduce outside labor to a minimum. 




Fig. 22. The placing of wet combs in piles in the open for bees to rob 
out and clean up is to be discouraged. 



70 



OTJTAPIARIES 



Extractors will be taken up further in another chapter dealing 
with extracting houses and equipment. 



Replacing Supers 

There is some advantage in extracting before the close of the 
honey flow. In fact it will pay the apiarist to make a careful 
study of the honey flora and the honey flow and so time his opera- 
tions that the extracting may be done just as the flow is ending, 

lose no honey, and still not 
be extracting during a 
honey dearth. 

During a honey flow the 
supers may be returned to 
the hives as fast as extract- 
ed, the same number being 
replaced on each colony 
as it had before. 

But in a honey dearth 
robbing will certainly be 
aggravated. It is better to 
wait till the close of the 
day when all supers may be 
returned in a short time. 
All can then be cleaned 
by the colonies before 
morning. For carrying 
supers back to the apiary 
a hand barrow is very 
desirable. Two men can 
carry from ten to twenty 
supers at a load while one 
man in the apiary smokes 
the bees and replaces 
equipment. 

Fig. 23. The France honey strainer is Some f ew beekeepers 

cylindrical and will fit directly into the . . , 

honey-tank. practice setting freshly ex- 




THE HARVEST 



71 



tracted supers out in the open for the bees to clean up at 
will. In most cases this is very objectionable and not to be 
recommended. Robbing is encouraged and danger of infection, 
should any foulbrood be present, is great. 

If the supers are to be replaced after the last flow in the 
fall, when the weather is cool, each strong color y may be 
given four, five or even six supers to clean and guard, thus 
making easier work in removing the supers later. Several 
good beekeepers do hot replace supers after the last extracting 
but hold them until needed the next spring. N. E. France of 
Wisconsin has many times carried such wet supers through the 
next summer and states that they are much less likely to 
be injured by moth than the dry supers. However, an 




Fig.^24. The Dadant strainer for barrels. 



72 



OUTAPIARIES 



objection is that these wet supers may be needed before 
the crop the following spring, for increase or otherwise, when 
the dry super may be used with little robbing whereas the wet one 
may necessitate ceasing operations in a whole apiary. There may 
also be a chance of honey souring in the wet combs, if any fer- 
mentation is present. 

Receptacles for the Crop 

Sometimes a major portion of the honey is placed in cans as 
fast as it comes from the extractor, though it is evidently only a 
makeshift way. It is impossible to remove all impurities in so 
short a time no matter how careful the strainer. But the apiary 
not permanently located, where all work is done with a portable 
outfit cannot install settling tanks for a single run, neither is it 
advantageous to haul the honey home and re-empty it. One 
prominent Wisconsin beekeeper, however, has provided himself 
with a number of large size milk cans. The honey is strained 
into these at the out apiary and transferred to the settling tank 




Fig. 25. Large settling tanks for storing honey, previous to drawing into 

proper receptacles, 



THE HARVEST 73 

at home after each day's run. He finds the plan very satis- 
factory. 

The ideal method, of course, is to have permanently installed 
settling tanks and enough of them to hold the extracting ur.til 
the honey is well settled. This can best be done with the central 
extracting system where all supers are handled at home. It is 
also practiced to some extent with permanent outyards where 
buildings are well equipped. The Edson Apiaries in California 
have 2 or 3 ton settling tanks. The honey settles over night and 
is drawn into 5 gallon cans the next morning when it is stored in 
warehouses at the station nearest the outyard at which they are 
working. 

Honey Knives 

The steam-heated honey knife has won its way to favor with 
a large majority of the best beekeepers. Its advantages are most 
marked when the honey is thick, the weather cool, and uncap- 
ping difficult. It can be dispensed with when extracting is done 
in hot weather and uncapping is comparatively easy. It is the 
thing for the inexperienced man, while it may be used only 
in the emergency by the expert with the cold knife. The chief 
uncapper for the Dadant apiaries made a record of uncapping 
solidly sealed combs in shallow frames at the rate of 1000 pounds 
of honey per hour on a half day run. He did it with a cold 
knife. Yet he realizes the advantage of the hot knife and never 
neglects to have it along for the emergency. 

Cappings and Capping Melters 

Unfortunately one or two large beekeepers in the past have 
recommended the use of barrels for cappings, a few holes being 
bored in the barrel for honey drainage when the rest of the mass 
would be hauled home for disposition. I can conceive of no worse 
method of caring for the cappings than by the use of such barrels 
or cans. I have in mind one shipment of cappings so barrelled 
and sent to a big comb-rendering plant to be melted up. Five 



74 OUTAPIARIES 

barrels in the shipment weighed in the neighborhood of 1500 
pounds. At least two thirds of this was honey, yet the beekeeper 
by his methods was unable to get out more honey, and the rest 
was to be wasted. 

Although my preference is for the capping can or capping 
box, a large number of the best beekeepers would not work with- 
out the capping melter though they realize its shortcomings. 
Evident it is, that it provides the easiest and quickest methods 
of disposing of the cappmgs, turning them on the spot into honey 
and wax, and it is especially valuable for the one man plant. 

Its disadvantages are that it is hot to work over in summer, 
and it discolors the honey and injures its flavor, since it is impos- 
sible to apply sufficient heat to melt the wax without great danger 
of slightly scorching the honey. Cappings from old combs in 
which brood has been reared, melt more slowly and cause the 
most trouble in scorching. Some claim that this small 
amount of discolored honey when added to the day's 
extracting mixes so readily as to be unobserved in either color, 
taste or smell by any observer. We are inclined to doubt this. 
The essential oils from the bloom, which give the finest flavor, 
are easily evaporated. Another criticism of the melter is that it 
makes added equipment when used in connection with, the port- 
able outfit. It would work best with the central plant. 

Probably one of the chief reasons for dislike of the capping 
can or box lies in the fact that the best manner of procedure is 
not always used. Explanation can probably be given by describ- 
ing in detail the plan used in the Dadant apiaries which is used 
similarly by many beekeepers. 

A portable extracting equipment is used in connection with a 
permanent honey house, and in this equipment is included a 24- 
inch capping can capable of holding usually the cappings of a good 
day's run. Every hour or so during the day, time enough is taken 
to give these cappings a thorough stirring and breaking up with 
a strong stick so that the honey may more readily drain. Honey 






THE HARVEST 



75 



drains off so freely that it has to be emptied from below both 
noon and night and sometimes oftener. The cappings are there- 
fore pretty well drained when the time comes to load for home 
in the evening, when the full can is taken along. It is left to drain 
overnight. In the morning the cappings are transferred to a 
larger tank with but a shallow space at the bottom for the collec- 
tion of the balance of the honey. When the end of the season 
and a slack time come, this dried mass may be run through a 
melter if desired. The cappings of the 1918 fall extracting in the 
Dadant apiaries from 11,000 pounds of honey were, for a test, 
run through a separating can and melter fashioned after those 
of Sechrist and Crane. Less than sixty pounds of honey were 
secured from the whole lot. 

P. W. Sowinski, of Michigan, running a one man plant, uses 
the uncapping box, spreading the cappings evenly over the box 
during the day's run. At evening he rolls up his sleeves and 
thoroughly breaks up and mixes these cappings until all is a con- 
glomerated mass. By morning the cappings are practically 
dry. 




Fig. 26. Box arranged for holding supers of combs while they are being 

sulphured from below. 



76 



OUTAPIARIES 



Danger of Moths 

With varying crop conditions the apiarist may have hives and 
supers of combs without protection of bees when danger of moths 
comes. All such should be watched carefully at two week periods 
and proper methods to destroy moths applied, should they be 
necessary. The worst damage comes, naturally, in the late sum- 
mer, after successive broods have hatched out and joined forces. 
Carbon disulphid and sulphur are both used with success. 

Combs which have been without protection of bees during 
cold weather, in Northern States, are in slight danger, if properly 
closed to exclude moths when warm weather arrives. Those on 




Fig. 27. A cylindrical honey-house made especially for storing combs 

by hanging them in racks so the moths will not enter them, and also for 

using sulphur fumes. Apiary of H. C. Cook of Omaha. 



THE HARVEST 77 

which bees have wintered will have to be watched carefully from 
early spring, especially those of colonies that have died in early 
spring. 

One beekeeper so built his honey house that the rafters are 
spaced for hanging combs between them. Such combs, isolated 
and exposed to the light, run small chance of being moth-eaten. 

Foulbrood 

Second and third examinations may be necessary when the 
locality has fouibrood. European foulbrood should largely have 
disappeared with the honey-flow if proper steps were taken at its 
inception. American foulbrood may appear at any time and the 
beekeeper cannot be too careful in searching it out. A diseased 
colony detected and destroyed or treated late in summer or fall 
may save many in the spring. 

Requeening 

Probably most of the requeening is done after the main spring 
honey-flow. It is desirable to carry out such requeening in the 
outapiary in a wholesale manner to avoid unnecessary trips. 
Such requeening should also be done, where possible, during a 
light flow, when chances of successful introduction are best. 

As prominent a beekeeper as the late Wm. McEvoy practiced 
requeening each summer, others requeen every other year, while 
others requeen only when absolutely necessary, leaving it to the 
bees generally to supersede a poor queen when the time comes. 
More and more the tendency is to requeen at least every other 
year. 

With the desirability of a full colony of young bees for winter- 
ing, requeening should be completed in time to insure it. 



CHAPTER X 



FALL AND EARLY WINTER 

If the beekeeper has been forewarned, he will have, in the 
summer, taken precautionary measures towards getting his bees 
in the best possible shape in preparation for winter. The three 
prime requisites for successful wintering, are: 

1. Strong Colonies of young bees. 

2. Plenty of healthful stores. 

3. Ample protection from winds and cold. 

It is necessary to begin preparations for the first requisite 
quite early in fall, since the bees must be reared in sufficient time 
to have the colony strong before cooler weather sets in. Lacking 
a honey flow, it may be necessary for the beekeeper to make a 
tour of outyards, feeding stimulatively to imitate a flow, so that 
proper breeding will take place. Inasmuch as young queens 
usually breed more prolific-ally, they are desirable. 

Lacking good natural stores, it may be necessary to do fall 
feeding. Not a sma 1 ] number let this matter go till too late, 
instead of getting colonies heavy with honey well ahead of cold 
weather, and too many colonies are underfed, resulting in dwind- 
ling in spring or the necessity of intermittent feedings in early 
spring. 

Protection from the Weather 

As stated previously under the chapter on locatirg apiaries, 
it is desirable to so locate the apiary that the contour of the lard, 

79 



80 OUTAPIARIES 






natural forestry, undergrowth, etc., may help in breaking the force 
of the winds. Artificial windbreaks for the apiary as a whole 
may also be used. But there will be required, in all northern 
climates at least, additional wind and cold protection for the 
hives individually, and such protection will serve to good purpose 
much farther south than yet practiced by many beekeepers in 
the milder zones. 

The character of such protection for the outapiary will be 
dependent to a great extent on three things: 

1. Locality and location. 

2. Permanence of the apiary. 

3. Plan of operations. 

It will hardly be advisable for the Southern man to consider 
seriously the proper conditions for cellar wintering, since the 
amount of protection his bees need will not warrant cellar winter- 
ing at all. So with wintering in the North. Some localities may 
be out of range of the hardest and coldest winds. They may be 
so favored that the weather is tempered, allowing an occasional 
flight during winter. Others may be winter-bound for months 
at a time, so that either cellar wintering or the utmost in outdoor 
packing will be. absolutely necessary. To this extent each bee- 
keeper will have his own method of wintering to study out as 
applicable to his particular locality. 

The location does not make quite so great a difference. Yet 
it is eas} r to conceive a barren plain, wind swept, which will require 
double the winter protection of another not two miles removed, 
but in a small valley with hills and brush and trees as protection 
from the direct blasts of the North. The outapiarists may have 
considered carefully the two when locating. The flora of the 
one may more than overbalance the disadvantages of the other. 

Many apiary sites are retained only from one year to another. 
Many arrangements for ground rental can be made but for a single 



PALL AM) EARLY WINTER 81 

season. It would be the height of folly, under su?h conditions, 
to build a permanent cellar only to move out after having used it 
one season. Yet the location may be so extraordinary that the 
beekeeper may desire to remain and winter out-of-doors in the 
best available manner. Possibly, with the migratory system, it 
will be advisable to abandon the large winter cases as too cumber- 
some to carry here and there with the changed location. 

Where the location is owned by the apiarist with the likeli- 
hood of his remaining over a series of years, he may select what he 
considers the ideal manner of protection. 

Yet many of our outapiarists have grown up from a small 
beginning. They have started their extended beekeeping with 
only limited capital. One may be able, for a few years at least, 
to winter under conditions which neither he nor the best authori- 
ties deem advisable. It may be to his advantage to evolve a 
system less costly until a time when, if desirable, he can afford 
the capital for a new system of wintering better suited to the 
locality. 

Moreover, his system, even if he is fortunate in having all the 
capital desired, may demand a wintering system that will cor- 
respond. With the centrally located plant, where all honey is 
hauled home to be extracted, it will not be advisable to build 
cellars at outyards for wintering, when the building is required 
for no other purpose. 



Outdoor vs. Cellar Wintering 

It is very difficult to define specifically just where cellar winter- 
ing is to be preferred and where outdoor wintering. It will hardly 
do to indicate zones with the same mean temperatures as having 
the same conditions applying for wintering of bees, and this 
because the wind protection of the two may not be the same, the 
humidity may be different. 



82 



OUTAPIARIES 



We all know that the two shores of a lake may be entirely 
different for fruit raising, although the mean temperature may be 
the same. In like manner climatic conditions may govern the 
desirability of out-door or cellar wintering. Moderation of climate 
sufficient to allow of winter flights may more than offset extra 
winter protection in the cellar. 

Roughly we may state that where your bees average two good 
flight days per month, with no confinement of over six weeks dura- 
tion, out-of-door wintering is to be preferred, providing, of course 
that proper wiud protection is afforded. 

Certain it is that many beekeepers have turned from cellar to 
outdoor wintering not because their locality was more favorable 




Fig. 28. Hives wintering close together^the^whole wrapped in tar paper. 



KALI. AND EARLY WINTER 



83 



to the latter, but more probably because their cellars were lacking 

in some essential. 

On the other hand, outdoor wintering may be practiced in so 
many different forms and lend itself so readily to the variability 
of the beekeepers themselves that it is no wonder that it is chosen 
by many outapiarists in preference to the less elastic cellar. 

Outdoor Packing Methods 

A method sometimes practiced in Colorado and other sections 
with similar climatic conditions is to wrap colonies in tarred paper, 
strawboard or other similiar material. Very often this is done 
by first getting the colonies closely together in a long row. Prob- 
ably most of the value of this protection comes through having 




Fig. 29. An apiary of chaff-packed Protection hives. 



84 



OUTAPIARIES 



the hives in close proximity, though the paper wrapping has sor 
little effect on the wind and serves to cover undesirable cracks in 
hives and hive-covers. It is better than no packing at all — much 
better. 



Alfalfa regions seem to be among the last to realize the import- 
ance of winter protection, possibly owing to the fact that their 
main honey flow comes late and colonies made weak by winter, 
as well a£ those lost, may be rebuilt by the time the main flow 
commences. Then too, their late flow insures maximum strength 
colonies of young bees to withstand the winter. Yet the percent- 
age of loss in these regions seems out of proportion to what the 
extra investment for winter protection would be. 




Fig. 30. The single colony packing case finds many advocates. 



FALL AND KAHLY WINTEH 






Iii many sections the permanently packed hive is looked upon 
with favor. It has the advantage of requiring no extra labor for 
winter protection except additional packing on the top. J. T. 
Dunn, of Ontario, packs his double-walled hive with cork chips 
instead of the usual chaff, and reports exceptional success. 

Objections advanced to it are that it is cumbersome to move, 
and heavy to lift. It only has two inches of packing all around 
while recommendations are usually for six to eight inches. Often 
no provision is made for bottom packing. 

Yet in regions where limited packing is desired, this chaff- 
packed hive winters with success. It is more to be desired where 
the apiary is permanent and little moving necessary. 

Single colony outer cases have the advantage that they usually 
provide for heavier packing, and may be removed when desired. 
But they also entail added equipment for the outyard. 




Fig. 31. The quadruple case is best in colder latitudes where an out-door 
wintering system is desired. 



OUTAPIARIES 



Four Colony Cases 



A method growing in favor with northern beekeepers who are 
so situated that cellar wintering is not to be desired is the four 
colony case recommended by the Department of Agriculture. 
This case requires the arrangement of hives in groups of four 
during the summer so that the case may be placed in the fall with 
a minimum of disturbance to the bees. It provides for eight 
inches or more of packing on all sides, top and bottom, while the 
four colonies in one case tend to conserve the heat. In regions 
where bees are confined to their hives for months at a time, or 
where exposure is great, this manner of outdoor wintering can- 
not be excelled. 







Fig. 32. A pile of leaves stacked in nets preparatory to being taken to the 
outapiary for winter packing by the Dadant method. 



FALL AND EARLY WINTER 



87 



The Dadant and Similar Systems 

Outapiarists located where it is sufficiently moderate to allow 
of periodical flights during winter may find it to their advantage 
to use a system similar to that used in the Dadant apiaries. 

The first essential is abundant and cheap packing material. 
The Dadant apiaries are located in easy reach of woods sufficient 




Fig. 33. The leaves are corded on a big truck. 



to furnish all the forest leaves desired and at minimum expense. 
Experiments tend to show that this packing material is superior 
to straw, shavings or paper. 

Large nets about six feet square are used for gathering the 
leaves, one net being sufficient for packing five or six of the large 
Dadant colonies. Xets sufficient for a full apiary are loaded on a 
large truck and the trip to the outapiary made. 



88 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 34. 



The deep telescope caps 
are filled with leaves and 
carefully replaced after first 
adjusting the straw mat 
above to the cluster. For 
hives with the shallow cover 
a shallow super full of leaves 
is added. Two men pack 
and replace the caps while 
two more follow and pack 
the hives outside, packing 
material being about six in- 
ches thick andplaced on both 
sides and the back, leaving 
the front, facing south, ex- 
posed. For holding the 
packing on the outside, a 
frame of chicken netting is 
used. These nets rise to 
the top of the telescope 
caps making at least four inches of packing on top and all sides 
except the front. 

There are several advantages to this plan. First, the equip- 
ment required is reduced to a minimum; rakes, leaf nets and pack- 
ing frames being all that is needed extra. The cost of packing 
is light, four men packing an apiary of 100 colonies in a day besides 
raking fresh dry leaves. 

In a locality where the sun is sufficiently warm to allow of 
winter flights, the front of the hive warms up and induces the 
bees to flight, while, if they were heavily packed as with some 
other systems, the interior of the hive would hardly feel the sun's 
heat until time of day for flight was passed. In the vicinity of 
Hamilton, Illinois, this method has been so successful and the 
percentage of loss so small that it seems inadvisable to invest 
more in wintering equipment requiring also additional labor. 
Naturally, wherever possible, all apiaries are given the best advan- 
tage of location for winter protection. 



The straw mat is placed next 
to the frames. 



PALL AND EARLY WINTER 



89 



1 




Fig. 35. Placing the big telescope covers on the hives after filling them 

with leaves. 



Cellar Wintering and Cellars 

Protection is afforded in cellar as in outdoor wintering, the 
difference being that the outside protection in one case is placed 
around the whole apiary while in the other it is around a single 
colony, two colonies, or four or more, as the case may be. 

The same safeguards for winter protection are to be observed 
as in outdoor wintering. Bui there are added precautions to be 
taken in the cellar since the bees are confined during the whole 
of the winter. They will have no chances for flighl and changes 
of temperature and extreme variations in ventilation, moisture, 
etc., have a greater bearing. 



90 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 36. The completely packed hive. 



A temperature of from 45 to 52 degrees is generally regarded 
as the best in cellar wintering, and this should be kept as even as 
possible during the whole winter. A colder temperature will 
necessitate greater ventilation while a much higher one may 
hasten brood rearing and induce activity by spring that will miti- 
gate the chance of the bees surviving the winter. Generally bees 
winter best in the cellar at a temperature which will keep them 
quietest. A low temperature will require more activity to keep 
up the warmth of the cluster. Have a thermometer in the cellar, 
find the degree at which the bees are quietest, and keep it at that. 



FALL AND EARLY WINTER 



91 



In many celiars, perhaps sufficient ventilation is afforded 
through crevices swept by the wind or through the opening and 




Fig. 37. One of the France bee-cellars in Wisconsin. 



closing of entrances into the cellar. More ventilation, as stated 
above, will be necessary when the temperature becomes lower, 
requiring activity on the part of the bees. It is well to arrange 
a ventilator for the cellar but this need not be over 6x6 inches 
and should be shielded at the top to avoid light in the repository. 
H. H. Selwyn of Ontario has had good success with such a venti- 
lator. He has, in addition, a sub- ventilator coming through the 
floor. This pipe extends from the intake for sixty feet under 
ground before reaching the cellar. In this way the air is tempered. 
Xo doubt also that this constant stream of earth-tempered air 
has its effect in maintaining the temperature of the cellar at the 
same degree, thus combining the desirabilities of temperature and 



M OOTaMAMES 

ventilation. One beekeeper with the same system of ventilators 
has installed an electrically operated fan in the upper ventilator 
so that with any variation inside the fan pumps the air out and 
draws the fresh air in to take its place till the temperature again 
becomes normal. 

Usually cellars are built of a height front 5| to 7 feet. In 
figuring the amount of air space to be allowed, there should be 
at least twelve cubic feet for each colony and two or three times 
this amount is desirable. 

Probably a room partitioned in a house cellar which is heated 
by furnace is as good a repository as can be had. It is usually 
dry, of even temperature, and allows readily of good ventilation 
either through the upward draft of air or through communication 
with the rest of the cellar. But the outapiarist will hardly have 
a home cellar large enough to accommodate all his bees, nor will 
the houses at his outyards be so located that he will be able to 
take advantage of them. 

A few years ago, not a few beekeepers practiced keeping their 
bees in clamps. The expense of these is small and they are espec- 
ially suited to the outyard which is not permanent and in a location 
where outdoor wintering is not feasible. Yet it takes a peculiar 
soil to be suited to wintering in clamps and we can hardly recom- 
mend this method as worthy of trial by the outyard beekeepers. 
There are too many failures. 

Edward G. Brown, in western Iowa, winters all of his out- 
yards in temporary cellars which he says can be made at a cost 
of from 25 to 50 dollars. Mr. Brown is located where the soil 
stands up extremely well under all conditions. When he builds 
a cellar he sets four posts at the four corners, having them over 
four feet in the ground so they will go below the floor of the cellar. 
They stick above ground two feet, and the two feet above ground 
is boarded up to hold the dirt as it is thrown from the inside in 
excavating. The enclosure is now dug to a depth of four feet, 
the dirt thrown out against the boards adding the extra two feet 



FALL AND EARLY WINTER 



&S 




Fig. 38. Apiary of Edward G. Brown in the sweet clover belt of Western 
Iowa. Notice the cheap, under-earth cellar in the background. 

in depth, making six in all. A board ceiling is made and a roof 
placed over all, the space between being filled with some good 
packing material. Mr. Brown states that he winters with 
only one to two per cent loss and the cellar is usually good for 
from three to five seasons. 

If the beekeeper has a reasonably permanent situation it will 
be to his advantage to build a permanent cellar. 



This is usually built in connection with the honey-house one 
roof furnishing shelter for the two. In the France apiaries, in 
Wisconsin, the cellars under the houses are used in the summer 
for honey tanks and receptacles. Thus the honey is run by gravity 
directly from the extractor without double handling. 



94 OUTAPIARIES 

In such cellars the walls are built of cement or stone and the 
ceilings may be plastered. Unless the drainage is especially good, 
it will hardly be feasible to leave a dirt floor, cement being much 
better, unless the cellar is very dry. 

Some few large beekeepers with central plants provide for 
wintering all of their bees in a central repository. 



CHAPTER XI 



MOVING BEES 

With modern methods for moving bees it is possible to trans- 
port them in almost any kind of weather and at ail seasons of the 
year. Yet it is generally preferable not to move during late fall 







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Fig. 39. Hives screened for moving in hot weather. 

95 



96 OUTAPIARIES 

or winter when the bees may not have a chance for a cleansing 
flight before the winter period. Nor is it generally advisable to 
move during the hottest weather, nor when hives are heavy with 
honey. This will avoid smothering of bees and breakage or melt- 
ing down of combs. 

Ideal conditions for moving are to have colonies light in stores, 
fairly light in brood, thus giving chance for best ventilation. Cool 
weather, in early or late spring, when bees hardly fly, is best. 
If the weather is hot, take advantage of the cool of night to move. 

It is imperative that all hives be perfectly tight at the joints 
and well nailed so that there may be no leakage of bees. Even 
then it is no uncommon occurrence to have bees come out from 
some partly concealed knot-hole or partially rotted bottom-board. 
A package of coarse absorbent cotton will answer well for such an 
emergency. It will not onty quickly stop the leak but has the 
effect of repelling the bees. Wet clay may be used in an emer- 
gency. 

For moving, the hives should be closed when all field bees 
are at home so as to have no loss. This can be done in the evening 
or early morning. 

Use care in hauling not to jar or jerk the hives any more than 
can be possibly helped. Avoid all excitement or heat to the bees, 
especially at the start of the haul. For overland hauling, hives 
should be loaded with the frames running crosswise of the wagon 
or truck; on railroad cars, lengthwise. 

If it is necessary to haul with wagons and horses, too much 
caution against having trouble with escaping bees and consequent 
stinging cannot be taken. Immediately any trouble is en- 
countered, teams should be unhooked and gotten away from the 
angry bees until all is quiet. 



MOVJNGBEES 97 

Moving Short Distances 

It may be necessary to change location of the outyard only 
a small distance, say a few hundred yards. This can be done 
very nicely in the evening or early morning, taking care to handle 
all as carefully as possible, and it may not be necessary even to 
close the entrances. 

It should be borne in mind, however, that many bees, unless 
precautions are taken, may take flight without noticing the change 
in location, and on returning, go back to the old location and be 
lost. To avoid this the shade board or other suitable board may 
be leaned in front of the entrance that outgoing bees may 
notice the change of location at once and mark it, similarly to 
the manner in which young bees mark their home when making 
their first flights from the hive. 

Even with these precautions some bees may return to the old 
location. These may be saved by leaving one or two weak colonies 
for a few days at the old location to catch the drifting bees as 
they return. 

Moving a Few Miles 

If the weather be cool and the bees can be transported to the 
new location in a very short time, it ma}^ not be necessary to pro- 
vide special ventilation during the haul; the hives may be closed, 
entrances and ail. But it is better to err on the side of too much 
ventilation than too little. The hauling at evening or in the 
early morning, to take advantage of lower temperature, will 
help. 

Very often beekeepers, in such moving, provide clustering- 
room by placing an empty super above each brood chamber, 
into which the bees can cluster, thus relieving the congestion on 
the combs below. Some combine this with a screened entrance 
while still others would not attempt to move even a short dis- 
tance without a part of the top of the hive screened. A screened 



98 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 40. Moving an apiary 75 miles by auto truck. 




Fig. 41. How one California queen-breeder moves his outfit to a new 

location. 



MOVING BEES 



99 



entrance is objectionable as the old bees, accustomed to fly out 
through it, worry themselves to death before it. 

When releasing the bees at the end of the haul, it may be 
wise to allow them to become quiet before, opening. At any rate 
it will be well to have the smoker handy to prevent an excited 
rush from the entrance with consequent confusion, drifting of 
bees, etc. 

The Long Haul 

Probably a large proportion of the moving trips of the, out- 
apiarist will be over a distance of from ten to fifty miles, either 
in the establishment of a new yard or in moving an apiary to new 
pastures by the migratory plan already mentioned. The colonies 
may have to be moved when heavy with honey or brood, or when 
the weather is very hot. 

In such instances it is well nigh indispensable to provide clus- 
tering room and ventilation for the trip by having the whole of 




Fig. 42. The truck is fast replacing the slower wagon, for moving bees. 



100 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 43. Where the haul is short and the weather cool, colonies may be 
moved with the covers on. 



the top of the hive screened, the moving screen being two or more 
inches deep, with proper re-inforcements over the top to prevent 
breakage. In rare instances the bottom-boards may be removed 
and the bottoms of the hives screened also. 



It may be necessary to give the bees water during the haul, 
should they become excited. Water is needed only when they 
have young brood. 

The up-to-date migratory beekeeper provides himself with 
moving screens, tight hives, and suitable hauling conveyances t° 
take best care of the number of colonies he proposes to move. 
Edson Brothers of California, as an example, operate 2500 colonies 



MOVING BEES 



101 



of bees practically all of which are moved to the orange and the 
bean fields for these flows. They have a four ton truck with a 
capacity of a whole yard of 100 colonies, moving screens and all. 
Thus they care for a unit of one apiary at a trip. Their moving 
is done in the night. 



Rail Shipments 

As in the long overland haul, ample ventilation should be 
provided. The trip is apt to be prolonged by delays. Hives 
should be loaded with frames running in the same direction as 
the rails as much of the jarring comes from starting and stopping 
of trains and switching. 




Fig. 44. "Old Sally, " a seemingly indestructible car in the Dadant out- 
apiary system, seeing service in moving bees a short distance. 



102 OUTAPIARIES 

Colonies should usually be loaded so that it may be possible 
to inspect any colony at any time, and one or two barrels of water 
should be provided in case of necessity. 

A thing most often neglected in shipping cars of bees is the 
bracing of the hives sufficiently to prevent jamming, with con- 
sequent loosening of joints, leakage of bees and excitement. 

Probably only a small proportion of outapiarists will have 
more than a rare experience in moving bees by this method, yet 
there are locations where it may be advisable to move long dis- 
tances to reach new and heavy flows. This is done by some of 
California's best beekeepers who go to the alfalfa regions of Nevada 
and Utah each vear. 



CHAPTER XII 



AUTOMOBILES AND TRUCKS 

The automobile has done more than any other one thing to 
revolutionize outapiary beekeeping. Its adaptability to exten- 
sive beekeeping is self-evident. It furnishes a quick mode of 
travel from one apiary to another, it travels in the heat as well 
as in cooler weather, it removes the danger of stings to horses 









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Fig. 45. A light pleasure car with commodious box on the rear is a prime 

requisite in the small outapiary system. 

Miss Mathilda Candler of Wisconsin. 

103 



104 OUTAPIARIES 






when used in the apiary. The Dadants succeed in moving 500 
colonies, with trucks, nowadays, more readily than the elder Dadant 
succeeded in moving 100 colonies in 1880 on hay-racks. 

I 

Then, too, motive power is necessary during only a fraction 
of the year for outapiary work. The car may be put away for 
the balance of the year with a minimum amount of upkeep. 

It is often necessary to remain at the outyard till late in the 
evening to replace wet supers, etc. The use of the automobile 
shortens the hours of the apiarist. 

Modern beekeeping may call for many moves of colonies or 
equipment. These are transported with the least jar and in the 
least time by- the auto truck. 



Type of Car to Use 

Pleasure cars are most generally used by the beekeepers, either 
in their original form or improved by the addition of a box or 
bed at -the back to facilitate the hauling of supers, extracting 
equipment and other apiary supplies. Not a few are later con- 
verted into light trucks to suit the expanding needs of the apiarist. 

The light pleasure car has the advantage of being faster, of 
costing less for running and for upkeep. Yet it has its limits. 
Other provisions would have to be made by the beekeeper for 
hauling honey home from extracting houses, for hauling bees and 
other heavy equipment. 

The question resolves itself into just what style of car is cheap- 
est and yet will adapt itself most readily to the system of each 
individual beekeeper. Depreciation, upkeep, interest on the in- 
vestment, mileage costs, and time on the road are all to be con- 
sidered. 

For instance, a heavy two or three ton truck would be unex- 
celled for hauling large loads of honey, but the depreciation of 



AUTOMOBILES AND TRUCKS 



105 




Fig. 46. A big three ton truck hauling ready cased honey in California. 



a $2500.00 machine carried over a period of ten years would 
amount to at least $250.00 per year and interest on the investment 
would add another $150.00 making a yearly cost of $400.00 not 
to mention running and upkeep costs which would be much greater 
on the larger machine. 

Would it not be more economical to use the smaller truck 
to reduce costs, or even a light delivery car and have the heavy 
hauling done by hired machines? Evidently it would be unless 
the apiary system were large enough to warrant the extra expense. 

The light car or converted machine would be most economical 
with a system of four or less apiaries. For five or more, the 
light truck with a capacity of one ton might be best, while with 
the larger systems a heavy truck would in all likelihood prove 
worth its extra cost. But the large truck, if hauling bees to any 
extent, would be improved with pneumatic tires throughout. 



106 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 47. Trailer pulled by a pleasure car, bringing in a load of comb honey 

in cases. 




Fig. 48, Another type of trailer often encountered. 



AUTOMOBILES AND TRUCKS 



107 



With the large truck also, a small delivery car for ordinary trips 
would be a necessity. 

In the central plant system, a truck of some description is 
a necessity, as it is in migratory beekeeping practiced regularly. 
Morley Pettit, of Ontario, furnishes an example of the former, 
using a one-ton Ford truck. Edson Brothers of California are 
instances of the latter, having a four ton truck for their 2,500 
colonies. With this .number, the larger truck should pay. 

The tendency seems to be towards a truck of a capacity of 
from one to two tons, as the Ford, Dodge, light Republic, or 
similar car. 

Trailers 

Not a few beekeepers provide themselves with trailers to be 
attached to the regular highly geared car, for emergency in super 
hauling, moving of bees, etc. For the occasional light haul this 




Fig. 49. For transporting bees, there is nothing better than the launch. 



108 OUTAPIARIES 

will do, but it is hardly satisfactory for much heavy haulmg 
daily work. The chances of trouble from overloading and break- 
ing down are too great. 

Launches 

Where streams are available the launch furnishes the ideal 
method of transportation, though it is slower than the automobiJe 
in good weather and on good roads. 

Launches are especially desirable, since there is practically 
no jar while moving and losses are brought to a minimum. 

This method of handling outyards is popular in the swampy 
regions of Florida. It is there almost the only means available 
and bees are placed on scaffolds raised above high water mark. 

Motorcycles 

Not a few beekeepers, of the East especially, have found it 
advantageous to use motorcycles, having all other hauling done 
by hired vehicles. This is to be recommended where the apiarist 
lives in the city and has another occupation during the winter 
months, with no use for automobile or truck during eight months 
of the year. 

L. F. Howden of New York estimated that his motorcycle 
will carry him 100 miles on \ gallon of gasoline. It will carry 
fifty pounds of equipment with ease, and this is all that is neces- 
sary for most of the trips. The investment is smali, and upkeep 
insignificant, compared with the ±arger machine or truck. 



CHAPTER XIII 



HONEY-HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 

In no part of the -equipment of the outapiarist is there such 
a wide range of difference as in the style of honey-house used. 
This is due, not only to the system practiced by the beekeeper, 
but also to his financial condition, and to the buildings which 
might have been available when each apiary was established. 

Yet we may say that the requirements for a honey-house, in 
almost all instances, are the same with the same system, the 
difference in houses coming from the fact that many apiarists 
do without certain conveniences or requirements for oue reason 
or another. 



Requirements 

The ideal bee-house should be large enough to care for all 
operations and extra equipment of the apiary at its maximum. 
Nine-tenths of the houses built are outgrown in the course of a 
few years, with the result that the apiarist hesitates to rebuild 
and does with the little room to the detriment of his work. 

The usual mistake is to make the side-walls of the house too 
shallow. Extracting supers can be piled to a height of fifteen 
shallow supers as well as ten; so the distance to the eaves may 
be nine feet as well as six or seven. 

If the house is but one story high, with a gable roof, consider- 
able storing space for little used articles shouJd be provided under 
the gables and above ordinary reaching height. Light articles 
such as extra frames, empty supers, etc., maybe well stored there. 

109 



110 OUTAMARIES 

Coggshall of New York, writing many years ago, advised making 
the outyard house double the capacity figured as sufficient for 
the beekeeper's needs. 

Another mistake too often made is in not making the house 
strong enough to stand the jar of the extractor or the weight of 
such honey as may be stored within the building. Concrete 
floors are desirable, but should be placed high enough, when 
building, so that they will be above the surrounding ground, else 
the drainage will be towards the house rather than away from it. 

The house should be bee-tight and mouse proof. There is 
nothing more annoying nor more apt to make angry bees and 
trouble than a leaky house during a honey dearth or at extracting 
time. The ordinary carpenter does not realize the value of such 
a point to the beekeeper and will almost invariably neglect to 
make all tight around the eaves, along the joists of the floor, or 
the lumber he uses may shrink enough to leave cracks for bees. 

A very good way to avoid trouble is to cover the framework 
of the house entirely with tarred paper before putting on the 
siding, floor, or roof. Tar is obnoxious to bees and they will 
hesitate to enter where a tar smell is predominant. 

Mice are an aggravation, but are easily disposed of. Certain 
it is that extracting supers should be mouse proof, or the loss 
from eaten and damaged combs may be considerable. 

Windows in the modern house are a necessity. These should 
be made to slide sideways so as not to trap bees, and openings 
should be covered with screen which will allow the bees to go out 
at the top, while preventing their re-entrance. The usual plan 
is to extend the screen for two feet above the top of the window. 
The bees will readily run up but will seldom find their way down 
such a long distance. Honey-house escapes are used much in 
connection with window openings. 

Many beekeepers think it a mistake to let bees out before the 
end of the day's work, since it is apt to draw more robbers around 



HONEY-HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 



111 




Fig. 50. Eees clustering around a screened window, trying to get to the 

sweets inside. 



the house. They have window screens closed during the day 
to be readily opened at evening to let out the accumulation of 
bees. 

It is hardly desirable to have a screened door. The bees will 
congregate there at each trip that we make with honey. If a 
screened door is desired it should be made in the form of an entry 



112 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 51. Screened entry to the honey-house that will keep the bees out. 

as shown in the accompanying cut. Most of the bees lose them- 
selves between the two doors and are trapped in the entry to run 
out at openings in the screen at the top. 

Make your honey-house door wide. If barrels are used for 
for honey storage the house door should be large enough to pass 
the barrel without shunting it back and forth, or standing it on 
end. Wheelbarrows, hand-barrows, large extractors and other 
equipment should pass through readily. 

Location of the House 



The honey-house should be located as handy to the apiary as 
possible. If on a slope, it should be slightly below the apiary 
to make for ease in hauling full supers of honey down. Ordinarily 



HOXEY-HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 



113 




Fig. 52. A temporary house in use in a Texas apiary system. 

it will be handiest at the side of the apiary, or at the back, rather 
than in the center or in front, and doors should be so located as 
to give best results both for hauling in from the apiary and for 
loading and hauiing honey away. 

Types of Houses 

Where a fairly good building is available it will hardly be 
necessary to build specially. When comb honey is raised or if 
extracting is done centrally, it wiil only be necessary to have a 
house large enough for storage. In fact many apiaries are handled 
without any honey house at all. In the migratory system 
this is the rule rather than the exception. Yet some sort of a 
shelter should be provided for extra equipment if it is to be left 
out for any length of time. 

Temporary Houses 

The temporary cloth house is used by many where the apiary 
is located only for a short time. Many years ago, in the France 



OUTAPIARIES 

apiaries, such houses were used. These were put up at the time 
of extracting and were taken down and removed to the next apiary 
as fast as the crew extracted. In this case rough shelter was 
provided for extra equipment the year around. The Frances 
have since changed their methods because they now have per- 
manent yards, and permanent houses were built in connection. 

W. L. Chambers, of Arizona, has been another extensive user 
of the temporary cheese cloth shelter for extracting. These 
houses may be made large to allow ample room for extracting, 
since their cost is small and the labor in setting up, insignificant. 

Temporary extracting rooms in the form of tents are much 
used. They are a makeshift, being hot in summer and not bee- 
proof. 

The Portable House 

Since the earliest days of outyard beekeeping, portable out- 
fits, mounted on heavy wagons or drays, have been used. In 
these, space is conserved as much as possible, and only necessary 
equipment for extracting is carried. One description calls for 
a bed 4 feet wide and 12 feet long, a rather small extracting 
room. In such, naturally, honey storage receptacles are outside 
the house and supers are removed as fast as extracted, either to 
be replaced on the hives or piled up and covered. 

The big truck has made a change in construction of these 
portable outfits. They are now large enough to house the modern 
extracting equipment and the power of the truck is sufficient to 
haul the most complex equipment desirable. 

These portable extracting outfits mounted on auto-trucks are 
very popular in the West and more especially in California where 
migratory beekeeping is practiced, and where the same location 
may not be desired two years in succession. 

Sectional Houses 

Several Michigan beekeepers and others use sectional houses 
for apiaries which are fairly permanent, where it may be neces- 



HONEY-HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 



115 




116 



OUTAP1 ARIES 





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Fig. 54. Honey-house built so that it may be readily cut apart into sections 
and removed. Where the cut is to be made, rafters or studding are placed 
within an inch of each other and holes bored so that the sections may 
be drawn together with bolts when set up again. 

sary to move location a short distance from time to time. These 
are well built houses of lumber with each side, roof and floor, in 
sections, to be easily taken down. They are made large enough 
for the needs of the apiary the year round, and when well put 
up can be made bee-tight. Easily taken down, they can be 
loaded on a wagon or truck and rapidly transported to a new 
location. 

The Permanent House 



By far the larger percentage of apiary houses are of permanent 
construction, carefully built, oftentimes with cement floor and 
large enough to house all extra equipment. The most of them 
are used in connection* with a portable extracting outfit, though 
not a few are equipped with a permanent one. 



HONEY-IK )l SKS AND EQUIPMENT 



117 




Fig. 55. Honey-house built with ample ventilation for extracting. j 

A house of such construction, designed for an apiary of 
ICO colonies, should be made at least 16 feet wide and 20 feet 
long, while a larger house would be a convenience; the size desir- 
able, of course, being dependent upon the complexity of extracting 
outfit, on the system of supering, and also upon whether honey 
is to be hauled home as fast as extracted, or stored at the out- 
yard until sold. Many have storage tanks in connection, running 
the honey by gravity directly into the honey tank. 



Not a few such houses are made two or more stories high, 
to allow of honey packing, carpenter work, etc., with well built 
cellar for wintering beneath. These involve extra investment 
but are exceedingly desirable when conditions warrant them. 



118 



0UTAP1ARIES 




Fig. 56. A France outapiary house with cellar beneath which serves as 

winter cellar. 




Fig. 57. Central extracting plant of K. E. Sutton in Colorado. All honey 
is hauled in from outapiaries, to be extracted, 



HONEY-HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 



119 



The Central Plant 

The central extracting plant has many features which make 
it attractive to the outapiarist so located as to make such a system 
practicable. Having all equipment in one building and all expendi- 
tures for houses to be embodied in one central house, it is possible 
to so plan as to include, in this one, all modern equipment advan- 
tageous for running several hundred colonies of bees. 

This plan is much favored by any beekeeper who has once 
practiced it, and we have to hear of a single instance where the 
central plant was given up when once tried. Almost all bee- 
keepers using this plan, however, have had previous experience 
with outyard work and were able to judge whether it would fit 
in with their system of management before they made the change. 




Fig. 58. Central plant of the Jager apiaries in Minnesota. This is one of 
the most complete buildings of its kind anywhere. 



120 OUTAPIARIES 

The central plant must be a roomy, well ventilated and well 
lighted building, with arrangements for power for the extractors, 
elevators, saws, pump, etc. A steam plant may be installed for 
heating honey, rendering wax, for the knife and capping melter 
as well as for heating the building, and it should be equipped 
with a water system and in fact almost any equipment which 
makes for cleanliness and labor saving. Its interior should be 
so divided as to provide a separate room for each operation. 

For the reader's information we can do no better than to 
quote a description of the central plant of the Pettit apiaries as 
described by Mr. Morley Pettit in the American Bee Journal. 

"The building is 24 x 40 feet with walls 16 feet to the plate, 
and a gable roof. It is built on a concrete foundation and is 
two stories high with a 4 inch cement floor downstairs and a pine 
floor on 10 inch joists overhead. The joists are 12 feet long and 
meet on a middle partition, making a floor strong enough to carry 
almost any weight that is likely to be put on it." 

"The ground floor is divided by the middle partition which 
stops 11 feet from one end for the garage, running across the 
building and extending six feet in front. This garage being about 
11 x 30 feet has room for a truck and an automobile or two light 
trucks, as required. The other two rooms, each 12 x 29 feet are 
the extracting room and honey-room respectively. It is ten feet 
from the lower to the upper floor, giving a ceiling 9 feet in the 
clear. The cement foundation of walls rises four inches above 
the cement floor which slopes towards the middle of each room, 
where a bell-trap connects with the sewer. This makes washing 
down the floor with hose and brush, after each day's extracting 
or other mussy work, a pleasure to anticipate. The extracting 
room also has a washing sink with draining table against the 
middle partition near the door of the honey room. Running 
water, hot and cold, and steam will be on tap at the sink. ' ' 

"The upstairs contains the office of the business, a lavatory 
with closet, and shower for the men, the carpenter shop, paint 
shop, foundation room, store room, etc. As far as possible I 



HONEY-HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT 



121 



aim to have a room devoted to each line of work and use it for 
nothing else. Then machinery and appliances once installed 
need not be moved, but can be left all ready for use at a moment's 
notice. It is a lot of space, but that is cheaper than man-time, 
which is about the most expensive commodity there is in pro- 
duction to-day. M 

Interior Arrangements 

It would be impossible to give sufficient details of different 
interior arrangements of honey-houses without creating confusion 
in the minds of the reader. Naturally the arrangement will be 
worked out by each beekeeper as that best suited to his needs. 
There are, however, details of interior arrangement which, if 
mentioned, may be of benefit in planning. 

An ideal way is to have the honey, as it comes to the house, 
loaded onto a tram car or else a car with overhead track which 
leads directly to the uncapping-can or box which should, above 




Fig. 59. Interior arrangement of one of M. H. Mendleson's honey-houses 

in California. 



122 



OUTAPIARIES 




Fig. 60. A. A." Lyons of Colorado runs two power extractors in his central 
plant. One is going while the other is being loaded. 



all, be placed in the best lighted spot in the room. Next to the 
uncapping box should be a dripping box for uncapped combs, 
and next to this the extractor, all being in such close proximity 
that the combs may be handled from the uncapper to the man 
at the extractor without unnecessary steps. 

Very often the honey comes in on a cool day and may become 
so stiff as to be difficult in uncapping and extracting. A well 
heated room where these combs from the apiary may be stored 
and heated for a short time before going to the extracting room ; 
will be of advantage. 

There is a decided advantage in having storage room below the 
regular extracting room also. In this manner, extractor and un- 
capping box may be directly connected with storage tanks by 
down-pipes. Herman Rauchfuss, in Colorado, uses this method 



HONEY-HOUSES AND; EQUIPMENT 



123 



and has the pipes leading* from the extractor and uncapping box 
steam jacketed so that the honey on its way down is heated. 
It is drawn from the settling tanks into containers before becoming 
cold, so that it is very slow to granulate. 

Many houses have cement bases for extractors and some are 
made on two levels so that the extractor may be placed directly 
on the floor and the honey drawn off a step or two below. Some 




Fig. 61. Settling tanks and heating system are in the basement of the 
Sutton central plant. 



run two extractors in combination so that one may be loading 
while the other is extracting, making for time saving. 

Very often it may be advisable to have stove or steam generat- 
ing plant for the honey knife or cappings melter outside the 
building to avoid heat. It is wise to have a large boiler for generat- 
ing steam for the knife that it may always be hot. Very often, 



124 OUTAPIARIES 

with a small boiler and cold honey, steam will not be generated 
as fast as needed. 

Power for the extractor is generally furnished by a gasoline 
engine. The engine should be bought sufficiently large so that 
it will carry an extra load of a second extractor or of other equip- 
ment should such be needed later. 

Where electric power is available a motor instead of a gas 
engine is desirable. The motor is cleaner, easier running and 
more economical. It can be turned on when ready and stopped 
during intervals when desired. 

I would urge upon all beekeepers, keeping a cost account of 
the different operations in outapiary honey production. Espec- 
ially is this desirable with the use of trucks. In no other way 
can the beekeeper be sure that he is using the most economical 
system in caring for his bees. So far, beekeeping has been carried 
on by the hit or miss system and without any idea of costs such 
as have helped build up the large businesses of today. 



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Books On Beekeeping For Sale by the 
American Bee Journal 



LANGSTROTH ON 

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REVISED BY DADANT. 

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American Bee Journal, Hamilton, Illinois 



Books On Beekeeping For Sale by the 
American Bee Journal 



PRODUCTIVE BEE- 
KEEPING 

BY FRANK C. PELLETT 

ONE of the latest text books on bee- 
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Beekeeping a Fascinating Pursuit. 

The Business of Beekeeping. 

Making a Start With Bees. 

Arrangement of the Apiary. 

Sources of Nectar. 

The Occupants of the Hive. 

Increase. 

Feeding. 

Durable cloth binding. 



9. Production of Comb Honey. 

10. Production of Extracted Honey. 

1 1 . Wax, A By-Product. 

12. Diseases and Enemies of Bees. 

13. Wintering. 

14. Marketing the Honey Crop. 

15. Laws That Concern the Bee- 
keeper. 

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American Bee Journal, Hamilton, Illinois 



